Living with the Enemy
by lolita of tehran
Summary: REWRITING THEN FINISHING. 3/9 complete. Yuna and Tidus are worst enemies. However, their parents force them to live in the same house alone for three weeks. Will they ever grow to understand each other?
1. One

07-10-10: The plan is to edit and rewrite the first nine chapters, then continue and finish the story. I'll be seeing you soon.

* * *

Tidus whistled as he walked in the door of his homeroom class at Besaid High. He dropped his bag on the floor by his desk and sat down in the empty classroom, breathing a sigh of relief. The fifteen minute walk to school had been just what he needed in order to unwind from such a hellish weekend. He had spent it at his beach house with his father, Jecht.

He hadn't minded the beach. Normally, he loved being out there, practicing blitzball plays with Jecht in the sand. It hadn't been any fun when he was younger; Jecht had spent half his time berating Tidus for poor plays and the other half telling his son how he would never be as good as his old man. Most sessions had ended with Tidus running to his mother in tears. Now that he was almost eighteen and quite proficient at the sport, Tidus enjoyed practicing with his father. Although Jecht was no longer in his prime, his blitzball skills were still a challenge to Tidus. He ignored his dad's bragging to keep practicing with him, because he knew the result of these practice sessions was his place on the varsity Besaid High Blitzball team.

No, Tidus loved the beach and the beach house. But, like the previous three weekends, it hadn't just been Jecht and Tidus, as it had been since his mother had died. Jecht had been inviting Utada, his best friend, and Yuna, her daughter and a classmate of Tidus' to the beach house, and for some reason, she kept consenting.

Tidus didn't mind Utada; she was actually quite nice to him and cooked better than Jecht did. If she wasn't around, the father and son would usually order take-out or pizza. It was Yuna who Tidus couldn't stand. She sulked around the house, wouldn't go out to the beach because she was afraid of sunburn, spent the weekend doing homework, and corrected his grammar frequently. When Yuna wouldn't go out on the weekends, Jecht wouldn't let Tidus go out, and this past weekend, he had missed his friend Squall's huge birthday party. Yuna had been invited, he was positive, and she had planned on going, but a few hours beforehand on Saturday, she had canceled because her boyfriend Seymour had wanted to come over and study.

It wasn't that she was thwarting Tidus' plans on purpose… she was just so _selfish_ about everything. Because Yuna had changed her plans, Tidus had to spend the night playing Trivial Pursuit with Jecht and Utada and miss an epic party that would surely be discussed for the next month at Besaid High. Yuna hadn't always been that way; she used to go out all the time before she had started dating Seymour six months ago. Since then, she had become intolerable.

Tidus thought all this to himself as he waited for the arrival of his two best friends, Wakka and Squall, both of whom did not share his love of Mondays. He was rudely awakened from his reverie by their loud arrival.

"Hey, what's up? Dreaming of Yuna again, yeah?" Wakka, the red- headed native Besaidian teased Tidus. Squall and Wakka knew that Tidus was pissed at her about the party.

"Shut up, Wakka." Tidus was in no mood to discuss Yuna this morning. Turning to Squall, he changed the subject. "Sorry again about your party, man. I really wanted to go."

"It's alright," Squall replied.

"How was the party?"

"It was epic!" Wakka cut in enthusiastically. "Everyone was there! Except you and Yuna…"

"Rikku didn't show up either," Squall added quietly.

"Lulu was there though," Wakka continued.

Other people were starting to file into the classroom now, so the three guys carried on their conversation more quietly.

"Yeah, Rikku stopped by on Saturday to drop off some stuff for Yuna," Tidus told Squall. He knew his best friend had been interested in Yuna's cousin for a while and had hoped he could make something happen between them at his party. "I asked if she was going, but she said she had something else going on."

"Typical," Squall responded. "That girl always has something going on."

"Anything happen with Lulu, Wakka?" Tidus asked his other best friend.

"Nah, man. We chatted for a bit but that was it."

Tidus was secretly pleased at this news. If Squall and Wakka started things with Yuna's two best friends, he would have to spend even more time with her, and he didn't think he could handle that right now.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Squall asked Tidus. "We were thinking of getting together some people and taking a trip up to Bevelle to see this concert…"

"I don't know, but I hope it's not another beach weekend like this last one. If I have to miss anything else because of Yuna…"

Tidus was interrupted by their homeroom teacher, Kinoc. "Gentleman, would you please settle down? First period bell is about to ring!" As if on cue, the bell rang, and Tidus, Wakka, and Squall all split up for their three different first period classes.

* * *

Yuna glanced at her two best friends cautiously. She didn't think she should tell them about the problems she was having with her boyfriend Seymour, but as they filed into first period English, she thought that if she didn't tell them now then she never would.

"Hey Rikku, Lulu?" The two girls glanced back at Yuna. "Um, could I talk to you guys for a minute?"

"But Yunie, class is about to start!" Rikku moaned. "Last time we were late, Shelinda almost gave us detentions."

"I never thought Shelinda was capable of being so strict," Lulu said mildly.

Yuna lost her nerve. She wasn't ready to discuss this with anyone anyway, not even them. If Seymour heard… she didn't want to even think about what his reaction would be.

"Nevermind. It's not important, and not worth being late to English." The three girls walked to the back of the classroom and got out their stuff for class. They had to look like attentive students, even if they were going to pass notes and talk all period long. Shelinda was usually pretty lax and looked away when you misbehaved in her class. The one thing that irked her was tardiness.

"Alright class, take out your books. Today we'll be reading..."

Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna ignored Shelinda and began their weekly Monday catch-up session of all the parties and hook-ups that had happened over the weekend. When Shelinda's back was facing the students, Rikku leaned forward in her seat and threw a note to Yuna who was seated in front of her. Yuna, expecting this, caught the wad of paper with ease just as Shelinda turned back around. Yuna placed the note inside her desk and opened it while pretending to pay attention to the teacher who was talking about the Shakespeare classic, _Romeo and Juliet_.

_So Yunie, you've survived another weekend with Tidus. Are things still pretty rocky with him? I mean, you could always stay with Brother, Cid, and me. What's so bad about living with him anyway? Is he, like, a big meanie, or just a jerk?_

Yuna scribbled a note back to Rikku and tossed it at her while faking a giant yawn, something you could only pull off on Mondays. She told Rikku that her mom would be 'disappointed' if she didn't spend the weekend at the beach house. "_Something about spending quality family time together,"_ Yuna had written. _"As for Tidus, well, I think I'm just around him too much. He can be suffocatingly annoying and overbearing."_ While Rikku read this, a wadded up piece of paper came flying in from Yuna's left side. She glanced over and saw a twitch of a smile on Lulu's serene face.

_How are things with Seymour? You haven't talked about him much lately. In fact, you haven't talked much at all lately. What's up? Is everything okay?_

Yuna paused to think how to answer Lulu before writing anything. How could she answer a question like that without giving anything away? Carefully and slowly, she wrote, _"Seymour's been really stressed lately. I've been trying to avoid him because he's tense. I'll deal. What's up with you? You seem, well, happier than usual."_ There. She had diverted Lulu's attention to herself rather than Yuna's love life. What she wrote had been true anyway. Lulu did seem happier. Flicking the note back at Lulu, she rummaged around in her book bag on the back of her chair, looking expectantly at Rikku. The blonde Al Bhed girl dropped the note on the ground to be picked up by her half-Al Bhed cousin. Yuna's bi-colored eyes flitted across the scrap of paper.

_Just try to avoid Tidus as much as possible during the school week, even if he is your lab partner. Maybe then you won't be sick of him by the weekend. He's kind of cute, actually. Get that. ;) Did you end up going to Squall's party, by the way? I heard that Bartello and Dona hooked up. Gross. _

Yuna wrinkled her nose and tried to stifle a giggle. Even though Rikku had been busy doing some work for Cid all Friday and Saturday, she still knew the break-down of what relationships had begun or been destroyed over the weekend.

Lulu was looking at the piece of paper in her hand with concern. There was definitely something going on with Yuna and Seymour. Lulu had never liked Seymour. He may be rich and well-dressed, but something about him rubbed Lulu the wrong way, and her instincts about people were usually correct. In her opinion, Yuna should have never gotten involved with him, but Lulu was never one to tell other people how to run their lives. She had enough problems of her own. Still, she worried about her friend. Yuna had changed in the past few months, but Lulu couldn't seem to put her finger on how.

Before Lulu had time to find another scrap piece of paper and write Yuna back, the bell rang.

* * *

Walking through the hallways, Tidus and Squall made their way to Auron's chemistry class. Wakka had advanced calculus second period with Kimahri the ronso, but spent most of his time in math studying Lulu.

"So I was thinking about your issues with Yuna. You've mentioned that she's been different the past few months. You guys used to be friends, correct? Perhaps something happened that made her change."

"We used to be friends in like fifth grade. We had always been on good terms, though, up until about six months ago, around when she started dating Seymour. It's like having a boyfriend sucked all of the fun out of her. All she does now is stay at home."

"Maybe Seymour's the problem. He isn't exactly the most understanding, caring individual I've ever met."

Tidus shrugged. "Whatever, I'm not getting involved in any problems she may or may not be having with her boyfriend."

Squall sighed. "Well, if you don't figure out what wrong with her, you'll keep missing parties and continue having miserable weekends. You should talk to her."

It was too late to discuss the matter further, as they were at the door of Auron's classroom. Auron did not tolerate any talking in his class unless he was doing it or you had to ask a relevant question to either him or your lab partner. Whenever Auron reminded students of this, he always stressed the word _relevant_. Tidus entered the classroom silently and took his seat reluctantly next to Yuna. Auron had given them permanent lab partners at the beginning of the year; Yuna happened to be his. Squall was much happier with the situation than Tidus was: his lab partner was Rikku.

Auron walked calmly in the room carrying Friday's exams. Taking a sip from his coffee mug (it was rumored he sometimes kept sake in there instead of coffee) he nodded at the class and began passing back exams. He started right in on his lecture about the scores on the test.

"Most grades were very good. Some of the class performed at a mediocre level, and a select few of you did so poorly, I was shocked at your lack of ability" Auron said this as he placed a test face down on Tidus's desk.

Excellent, thought Tidus sarcastically. I failed. He slowly turned the paper over and looked at his grade. In the top right hand corner was his grade with a circle around it, a C-.

Tidus stared at the paper for a minute, confused. He thought Auron had been insinuating that he had done much worse.

"Now, the grade you see on your paper is not the grade I've put in the gradebook. Since you were supposed to study with your lab partners, if you average both your grades together, the grade I've counted as toward your total percentage of exams."

Tidus inwardly groaned. He didn't want to show Yuna his grade. She must have aced the exam, with the way she spent every hour of the weekend before this past one studying. He didn't need any added resentment toward him from her on top of whatever Squall supposed that she was going through. He glanced over at his friend, who was leaning toward Rikku, showing her his test and grinning as she giggled loudly.

Auron interrupted their exchange, frowning. "However, I do not think we need to waste class time discussing your grades. You may do so during your free time after class or whenever you see fit. Now, let's move on to Chapter Six in our book…"

Tidus glanced over at Yuna. She looked ill. She must have got an A and she must have known Tidus didn't do well. Sighing inwardly, Tidus knew that he would have to apologize and study hard for the next test to make up for the B Yuna was getting in the gradebook instead of the A she deserved.

As the bell rang, Yuna left too quickly for Tidus to catch her and say what he had planned, but as he was leaving he bumped right into her outside of the chem classroom. He would have talked to her then, but she was otherwise engaged with her boyfriend, Seymour.


	2. Two

After science, the rest of the day passed quickly for Yuna. Mostly, she took Rikku's advice and stayed away from Tidus. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Seymour. When she wasn't around him, her problems with him didn't seem so bad. However, whenever he showed up, they seemed worse than before.

As soon as she exited Auron's classroom, she bumped into him.

His cold eyes surveyed her with critically. She was suddenly shy; she was wearing a skirt and could feel his disapproval. He liked her to dress more conservatively.

"Yuna," he had said, "how are you? Somehow you look upset. How was your science test? You should have done well, since I helped you study for it."

Walking home, Yuna decided not to think about what had gone on with Seymour earlier that day. Instead, she braced herself against the chilly rain outside. Having left both raincoat and umbrella at home that morning, she was soaked by the time she reached her doorstep. Fumbling with her key, she opened the door to her house. Her mother, Utada, was cooking in the kitchen when Yuna arrived. The smell of chocolate cake wafted up to Yuna's nose and she inhales deeply. Utada then noticed her dripping-wet presence with surprise.

"Oh, Yuna! You're drenched! Go to the bathroom, dry off, and change into nice clothes. We're going to Jecht and Tidus's house for dinner tonight."

Yuna groaned inwardly. All her work of avoiding Tidus would now be negated. Silently and sullenly, she walked to the bathroom where she blow-dried her dripping wet chestnut brown hair and put cover-up over a nasty looking bruise that was beginning to form on her arm. Then she jogged into her room across the hall.

Yuna's room basic. Rikku had helped her decorate it about a year ago. Though her cousin had tried to get Yuna to choose a pink-and-green color scheme, Yuna had gone with a simpler black and white with red accents that Lulu approved of. She had explained to the disappointed Al Bed girl that she couldn't relax in a loud pink-and-green room. Rikku had finally obliged, then did her best to find acceptable black, white, and red room decorations.

When Yuna first entered the room after Rikku had completed her decoration, Yuna felt at peace. One her bed was a plush white comforter with about ten pillows, mostly black, but one or two red ones. She had hung drapes around the doors to a small balcony that jutted out on the outside of the house; they were simple, white, and gauzy, and Yuna liked her balcony even more than she had before. Rikku had also placed a wrought iron café table in the room where Yuna could have tea or coffee in the morning. Her cousin had also insisted on placing a small vanity inside Yuna's gigantic walk-in closet. Yuna was now happy she had consented, even if it did cost her quite a bit of extra of money.

The vanity was all-marble, except for the legs of the chair, which were wrought iron, and it was crowned with an antique mirror, also wrought iron, matching her tea-table. Yuna now entered her closet, saw the vanity and smiled as she selected a deep wine colored dress from her closet to wear for the dinner tonight. She quickly dressed and then picked a pair of tan pumps.

Most of the time, red didn't work well on Yuna and made her look washed out. However, this dress was special. She had gone shopping with her mom and dad for the perfect birthday present a few years ago. Her parents decided early on that when it came to presents, they'd let Yuna pick them out herself. Her father had usually tagged along, too. He'd bought the dress for her two years ago, when it had been a little too big for her to wear, but he had seen how much she loved it and wanted it. That was the last thing he bought Yuna before he died. When she wore it, she remembered their last shopping trip together; the wine color had been his favorite.

Yuna sat down at her vanity and carefully applied a little lipstick to her lips. After spraying herself with vanilla almond perfume and brushing her hair, she left the room.

Utada was icing the cake. "Mmm," Yuna murmured. "German chocolate, my favorite. What's the occasion?"

"No occasion really," her mother replied, finishing up with the icing and licking it from her fingers. "Jecht and I just thought it would be nice to have dinner together. By the way, that dress looks radiant on you."

"Mom, don't change the subject! Why did you tell me to wear 'nice clothing'?"

"Well, first of all, don't snap at me like that, Yuna; I don't know what's come over you lately. Second, the dinner would just seem more special if we're all dressed up. Let me get my shoes and take this apron off and we'll be on our way. Maybe you could bring some homework along and work on it with Tidus while Jecht and I talk before dinner?"

"Alright," Yuna groaned. The last thing she wanted to think about was homework, but she had a ton to do before tomorrow and Utada and Jecht usually talked after dinner, too, which meant they might not leave before 10 o'clock. Besides, doing homework with Tidus was better than sitting in an awkward silence with him. She just had to get through tonight, then she could avoid him for the rest of the week.

* * *

Jecht was banging pots and pans, trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to cook a whole chicken with Tidus complaining in the background.

"Why did you have to invite Yuna too? I see enough of her every weekend and at school! Why do they have to come over at all?"

"God dammit, Tidus! Shut the hell up and find the teriyaki sauce for me! Try the shelf in the refrigerator where we keep the beer."

"Why do you need the teriyaki sauce?"

"Well, it helps if I'm supposed to occasionally baste the chicken with the sauce while cooking the bird."

"Oh," Tidus answered as he tossed Jecht the teriyaki. Jecht opened the oven and poured half of the bottle of sauce all over the chicken.

"Uh, Dad," Tidus said, interrupting Jecht as he smoothed the teriyaki sauce over the chicken and shut the oven door.

"What?"

"If the cookbook says to baste the chicken, then you squirt the sauce on once in a while. Mom did teach me a few things about cooking before she died. How high is the oven's temperature, anyway?"

"Oh, about 700 degrees Fahrenheit."

"700 degrees? Is that what the recipe said?"

"No, the recipe said 350 degrees, but this way it'll cook twice as fast," Jecht replied, proud that he was smart enough to have thought of that.

"Yeah, but... hey, what's that smell?"

"Smoke, my boy. Haven't you ever smelt the fine scent of..."

Tidus broke into his father's sentence. " That's coming from the oven, Dad."

"What?" Jecht opened the oven door; the chicken was on fire.

"Oh, shit! Quick, get me a glass of water or something!" he roared as he turned off the oven. Tidus threw him the fire extinguisher. Jecht put out the fire in a flash, but the chicken was transformed into a smoky pile of ash that smelled faintly like teriyaki sauce.

"I'll go pick up one of those pre-baked chickens at the grocery store," Tidus said, staring blankly at the mound of ashes.

"Okay," Jecht replied, sniffing the air. "And while you're at it, pick up some air freshener."

Utada was pulling in to Jecht's long, elegant driveway with her car as Tidus placed the main dish on the table and ran upstairs to quickly get dressed.

"Okay now, I know you and Yuna don't get along too well, but try to be civil with the girl," Jecht told Tidus as they shared the huge bathroom mirror. The older of the two men straightened his tie.

"But Dad, she hates me!" Tidus was clean jeans and a sweater with a polo. His dad had picked it out and forced him to wear it. Jecht himself had put on a pair of dress pants and a button-down shirt.

"Nonsense, she can't hate you. You're the spitting image of me when I was a senior."

"Dad, I'm a junior."

"Whatever. There's the doorbell! Run to get it while I put on my cologne."

Tidus did as his dad told him to and jogged to get the door. While doing do, he ran his hand through his hair and made up his mind to be as nice as possible to Yuna. Then he pulled open the door.

"Utada, Yuna, how great to see you!" he said, he'd seen the two of them at the beach house less than twenty-four hours ago and Yuna during chemistry today. Tidus hugged Utada. No matter how much he didn't get along with her daughter, Tidus genuinely liked Utada. He thought of her as a second mom, since his had died of a rare medical condition when he was still in grade school. "You look great, Yuna," he said smiling, attempting to start off well. She smiled at him, but it wasn't a very warm one.

Just then, Jecht came in, looking handsome, for an older man, Tidus thought. "Why don't you kids go off and watch a movie before dinner?" he suggested.

"Oh, Yuna brought her homework if you want to work on that together. I know you two are lab partners," Utada said brightly.

Tidus inwardly sighed. He hated homework and Utada's comment had reminded him about his science grade. Instead of stating this, he asked, "How do you know that we're science partners?"

"Oh, Auron told Jecht, who mentioned it to me. Now off you go!"

Yuna's faced reddened a little. _Does_ _my mother know how ridiculous she sounds?_ However, she and Tidus's dad were already sauntering off into the living room, deep in conversation. Jecht seemed to sense the two teens still standing there in the foyer and called back, "You two can study in Tidus's room." When they were gone, there was a silence between the two teens.

Then, Tidus simply said, "This way," and jogged up the stairs. Yuna had been in Jecht and Tidus's household many times before, but she had never been in Tidus's room. There had never been a need to go in there. When their parents had become friends three years ago at a support group for people dealing with the death of a spouse, they had started having dinner occasionally. Things hadn't really developed into an every weekend, every weekday sort of thing until a few months ago. When they had first met, Utada and Jecht weren't best friends and didn't have to be with the other person every moment they had, but both Tidus and Yuna had been glad that their parents were each talking to someone about their gried.

Tidus had reached the door of his room with Yuna right behind him. "Uh, can you hold on for a minute?" Yuna's eyes narrowed. "I guess," she replied coolly. Tidus opened his bedroom door a crack and slipped in, shutting the door quickly behind him. If he wanted Yuna to understand about the whole science grade thing, he would have to suck up a bit. He picked up his clean chocobo boxers off the ground and shoved them in a drawer. Was his room always this messy? He kicked some CDs and video games under his bed and threw his DVDs in his closet and shut the door. That just about does it, Tidus thought. As he was about to open the door, he noticed one more thing. He ripped his Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition magazine poster off the closet door and stuffed it in his underwear drawer, then opened the door to his room.

"Come on in," Tidus beckoned, doing his best to be cheerful. Yuna entered quietly and looked around. She saw a typical male teenager's room, minus the mess. _That's what he must've been doing when he came in before me_, Yuna thought, _cleaning_. "It's a nice room," she said politely.

Tidus sighed. It was now or never. "Look Yuna, I know you're probably sick of me from spending the past three weekends together, but can we just try to get along?"

"Oh, good, I hoped we could be civil with each other again," Yuna replied, smiling genuinely at Tidus for what seemed like the first time in a month. "I'm really sorry if I've been snappy with you lately, but I just think we're around each other too much and I've been stressing out about a lot of stuff recently."

Surprised that Yuna had agreed so readily to his peace-offering and pleased at her apology, Tidus readily accepted it and agreed with her. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too. It's been a rough couple of weeks for me school-wise." Why not get some sympathy before I tell her the truth about chemistry, he thought.

"Me, too," Yuna said enthusiastically and smiled again.

This seemed to be going well. The two of them sat on his floor and began pulling out books, making small talk.

"Do you think Squall and Rikku will ever get together?" Yuna asked shyly, trying to do some covert spying for her cousin.

"Squall certainly hopes so," Tidus laughed, as he pulled out his chemistry book. "What about Lulu and Wakka?"

"Lulu's pretty private about those sorts of things. My guess is that she likes him, though."

The two continued chatting as they started on their science homework, Tidus becoming more and more at ease about eventually having to reveal his grade to her.

"So how are things with you and Seymour? You're still dating, right? I saw you guys after Chem today."

"They're fine. Actually, we should talk about the test."

"Sure," Tidus said warily."I, uh, got a C. Sorry, I know you probably aced it, being on the honor roll and all, but I'll do better next time, okay?" Tidus braced himself, in case she was going to yell at him or lecture him. Instead, she just looked sad.

"Tidus, I did worse than you did." Tidus's eyes widened. "I got a D."

"A D? Are you serious? But you studied all weekend!"

"I tried to study alone, but Seymour insisted on helping me out. He doesn't explain things very well and confused me."

"Why didn't you tell him that he wasn't helping you at all?"

Yuna sighed lightly. "Seymour's very sensitive and defensive. He tends to take things the wrong way. Are you mad at me?"

"No, just disappointed." Tidus replied, doing his best to be honest. "Next time, just ask me for help. I'm you're lab partner, after all. Just because Seymour's your boyfriend, doesn't mean you let him push you around. I mean…" He stopped talking when he saw the look on Yuna's face. The words died on his tongue. She was angry. Things had been going so well. What had he done to upset her?

"Don't lecture me, Tidus! I didn't ask for your opinion, and I don't want it. You didn't do much better than I did on that exam. Seymour offered me his help, not because I asked, but because he wanted to offer it!" Why am I sticking up for Seymour? wondered a corner of Yuna's mind as words continued to fly out of her mouth. "If you think of me as a responsibility that you have to lug around and help out, think again! Once you start doing better on the exams, maybe I'll ask for your help! Seymour aced Auron's class last year!"

"Oh yeah?" Tidus shot back. Yuna's sudden outburst had pissed him off. "Well I don't need someone to keep my life straight for me like you do. All you do anymore is study with Seymour. You don't go out on the weekends, and you don't have much to show for all your hours of work, do you? You're a drag to be around now. It's like you don't even have a personality, and I hate spending every weekend with you. Jesus, Yuna, stop letting Seymour control your life!"

Yuna looked stricken for a moment, but then quickly regained her composure. She grabbed her bag of books and stormed out of Tidus's room, giving him a venomous look. As she was leaving, she whipped around and stared hard at him for a moment. "Fuck you," she whispered. She would have yelled it, but she didn't want her mom and Jecht to hear her. Yuna sat outside in the hall doing her homework until Utada called both her and Tidus to come and eat dinner.

Thankfully, Jecht and Utada were dominating most of the table conversation. Tidus could throw in an occasional side comment and it looked like he was actually paying attention. Instead, he was thinking about his fight with Yuna. What had gotten her so angry? Was it something he had said? Right before she blew up, he had said that he wasn't mad at her and to ask him for help next time. What was wrong with that?

"Son? Tidus!" Tidus jumped and saw that his dad was talking to him.

"Sorry, Dad. What's up?"

"Could you please bring in the dessert plates and cake? We're done with our meal."

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure I will."

Utada objected. "Yuna, dear, why don't you help him? It's a lot to carry, even for such a strong young man like Tidus. An extra pair of hands would make the job much easier."

"Of course, Mother," Yuna replied and smiled prettily. Then she gave Tidus an icy look. Once they had eaten dessert and the dishes were cleared away, Tidus and Yuna were about to go back upstairs when Jecht cleared his throat.

"Yuna, Tidus, I have an announcement to make. Utada and I have been friends for a long, long time. We've become very close, recently, as I'm sure you've noticed, and, well, I don't quite know how to say this…" He looked at Utada and smiled. "Well, to tie the knot. We're going to get married."

There was a silence almost as long as Utada and Jecht's friendship. Tidus was horrified. They couldn't be serious. Then he started to laugh. He was still laughing when he realized that no one else was. His eyes grew wide and he had stopped chuckling. "You mean… you're not joking?" Jecht's solemn look said it all. "But you haven't even dated!" he protested.

"On the contrary, we've been dating for five months," Utada said evenly.

"But you're best friends!" Yuna said, her eyes pleading for them to burst out laughing and say that they were just kidding, as Tidus had originally suspected.

"Husband and wife are supposed to be best friends," Jecht answered.

"Squall and I are best friends," Tidus challenged. "Does that mean he and I should get married?"

"Don't be smart with me, boy!" Jecht roared.

"Sorry," Tidus mumbled.

"It's just that this is all so sudden," Yuna explained, trying to be diplomatic. "Why not think it over a little longer first before you do something you regret?"

A sudden thought occurred to Tidus and he blurted it out. "It's not just for the sex, is it?" Jecht and Utada looked shocked, and when he realized what he said, he tried to fix it. "What I meant was, you're not doing this just in a sudden, uh, burst of passion, are you?" he stuttered.

"Shut up while you're ahead, son," his father said mildly. Obediently, Tidus stopped talking.

"Yuna hit the nail on the head," Jecht continued. "We're going to think it over while you think it over, too. Do you guys remember the beach house we stay at every weekend?"

"How could we not? I mean, like you said-," Tidus said sarcastically, forgetting his father's command.

"SHUT UP, TIDUS! JUST SHUT UP!"

"Jeez, sor-"

"SHUT UP!" Tidus shut up. Jecht was breathing heavily as he sat back down. When Tidus was talking, he had stood up and grabbed his son's shirt and given him several good hard shakes. Utada patted her fiancé hand in a calming fashion.

Now, while we think this over a little longer, the two of you," Jecht shot Tidus a dirty glare, "will be living alone in that beach house, alone, for three weeks." Tidus was still keeping his mouth closed, so Yuna asked, "Why?"

Utada answered in an obvious voice, "To form a better brother/sister relationship, of course! Jecht and I have noticed that you two don't get along too well, and if we are to live under the same roof, you'll need to be able to stand each other."

Yuna and Tidus were silent. Brother and sister relationship? It was bad enough that their parents were getting married, but to be siblings? Finally, Tidus said, "What if we don't do what you say and don't live in the beach house? What if we refuse to go?"

"Then you'll lose blitzball privileges and get kicked off the varsity squad." Jecht said, his mouth firmly set.

"And Yuna will not be allowed to date or go out with friends. She'll also lose phone privileges," Utada finished.

"You guys have really thought this over," Tidus murmured thoughtfully.

"How are we supposed to survive there? Will we go to school still?" Yuna asked desperately.

"Jecht and I will give you $1000 dollars in cash. You will decide how to use this money wisely as it's all you'll get for the entire period of time you spend there. You must buy household items, food, and such. You will go to school, but are forbidden to go to social events, which include dances, going out with friends, and the like. However, you may each have two friends over once a week." Utada answered in a no nonsense tone of voice.

"What are we supposed to do for fun? Watch TV?" Tidus asked in disbelief.

"Oh no, the TVs have been disconnected and taken out of the house. What you do for fun is up to you," Jecht cackled, almost evilly.

Tidus and Yuna were again forced into speechlessness as they learned how manipulative their parents could be.

Yuna swallowed and dared to ask, "When do we move in?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Friday," was Jecht and Utada's simultaneous answer.

Four days. Yuna had four days to prepare herself for three weeks with Tidus.


	3. Three

It was Thursday night at Yuna's house. Lulu and Rikku were present, helping their best friend pack for her lonesome three weeks with Tidus as her sole company.

"At least you'll be at the beach, Yunie," Rikku said, searching through Yuna's closet for clothes. "You can at least get a nice tan."

Yuna groaned. "I don't think even being at the beach will be able to make up for the fact that I'll be spending three weeks with Tidus."

Lulu quietly replied, "You will have an awful time if you think about it that way. Try to think about it in a positive light."

"Yeah, Yunie," Rikku added throwing some tube tops in Yuna's huge, wide open suit case. "Think of it as a vacation… from chores!"

Against her will, Yuna giggled. "Or from backstabbing parents who get too many ideas," she suggested.

Lulu lowered her eyes and said, "Or from Seymour. What's been going on with him, Yuna? Can you tell me?"

Yuna's eyes glazed over for a minute, and then she shook her head. "Nothing, Lu. He's just really stressed out. Now, can we please concentrate on my clothes? I mean, I'll at least need a week's worth of stuff before you can bring me more, right?"

Now Lulu shook her head, thinking about how Yuna had avoided her question, but Rikku's attention was completely focused on style.

"Well, personally Yunie, I think you'll need plenty of swim suits. What else are you going to do when you're there? Play checkers with Tidus, Mr. I'm-the-Number-One-Blitz-Ace? Let's see, this bluish- green one brings out the colors of your eyes, and this yellow one looks better on me, but I'll throw it in anyway." Rikku began throwing skimpy bikinis in the suitcase, eventually adding accessories, clothes, make-up, and shoes. She even tried to put in Yuna's dress that she wore to her dad's funeral, but Yuna put her foot down there.

"What if -"

"No!"

"But-"

"NO!"

"Well fine then! Jeez, you try to help a person." Rikku muttered.

Lulu was trying to put together some more practical things for Yuna—she was sorting through books, make-up, and toiletries.

Two hours passed. The three girls finished packing, but not before Rikku and Lulu were well past their school-night curfew. "Well, see you tomorrow, Yuna," Lulu called, walking out the door.

"Yeah, try not to get too emotional," Rikku said, following Lulu's lead.

"I won't," Yuna promised. "Thanks again." As soon as they left, she trudged to her mom's room. Utada was sitting up in her bed reading a book. Seeing Yuna, she looked up.

"I just wanted to thank you again for ruining my life, Mom," Yuna said sarcastically.

Utada looked tired. "Oh, sweetheart, it won't be that bad. Tidus is a very nice boy. Why can't you two just get along?"

"Well, Mom, unlike you and Jecht, Tidus and I aren't carnally attracted to one another and every time around him, he does something to infuriate me. Why should we get along just because you are marrying his father? This is totally unfair and I can't believe you're making me do this! If you were forced to live with someone you hate with a passion, what would you do?"

"I'd do my best to make friends with him!"

"Easy for you to say! You aren't the one actually having to go through with it. You are totally destroying everything I've done to avoid Tidus!"

"Honey, you two are so much alike, it's hard to believe you aren't the best of friends."

Yuna began to protest, but her mother cut her off. "I really have to get some sleep and you should too. It's nearly midnight and you have a big day tomorrow, with moving and everything."

"Well fine then! Avoid the issue!" Yuna yelled at her mother, stomping out of the room. She had no idea what she was so mad about, but it was probably best for her to rest. Crawling into bed, Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and remembered what Lulu had said: think of it as a vacation from Seymour. Suddenly, she was very eager to leave.

* * *

The sun was setting and Tidus was sitting on the beige couch of his beach house, making out with some girl. The brilliant reds and oranges of the sunlight danced in her hair, giving it a reddish sparkle. Pulling away from the embrace, Tidus examined the girl's hair. It was incredibly soft and feathery, glinting with rich colors. He turned the girl's face back to his own and did a double-take. High cheekbones, lush, pink lips, one eye green, the other blue. It was Yuna. Tidus almost screamed, but his voice was dead, frozen. Yuna's soft, sweet face started to throb and convulse. Her head morphed into a tattooed, pointed face with cold eyes. They were hard, icy eyes that softened when they looked at Tidus. Tidus's voice thawed as he recognized the face and the person it belonged to, although they'd only spoken together a few times. "Seymour?"

Seymour's hands grabbed Tidus by the shoulders and pulled him close. "Kiss me," he commanded. The angular face was moving closer, closer. Tidus struggled hard to pull away. He had to get free. Seymour's lips were seconds away from Tidus's. Then he woke up.

"Holy shit!" Tidus swore. Auron turned around. "Is there a problem you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Tidus?" Unfortunately, Tidus had fallen asleep during science. Now he was at Auron's mercy.

"No, sir," Tidus replied as politely as he could.

Auron surveyed him through his sunglasses. "Could you tell us, for example, why you fell asleep in my class?"

Tidus was quiet. The Besaid Aurochs had had a major blitzball game last night. They had killed the other team with a final score of 7-0. He had gone out partying afterward with the rest of the blitzball team to spend the energy they had reserved for playing a harder team. He had gotten home at 3:00 AM and then had to pack for the next week or so to be spent at the beach house. Eventually, Tidus had collapsed in bed at 4:00 only to be awakened two and a half hours later. "I didn't get much sleep last night," Tidus finally answered.

"Oh? Well, does that mean you couldn't fall asleep or were out partying with friends?"

Damn, Tidus thought, he's good.

Before Tidus could answer, Auron continued. "Save it, Tidus. Explain it to me in a 5000 word essay due tomorrow."

"But tomorrow is Saturday, sir," Tidus protested, finally getting a word in.

"Drop it off to me tomorrow along with tonight's assignment. I'll be here until 8:00 PM."

"But sir-"

"No excuses. Tomorrow, here, understand? Good. Now, please open you books to chapter seven."

Tidus sighed and his thoughts returned to the cause of his misery: his dream. His mother had known a little White Magic, and passed some onto Tidus genetically. From the time he was a boy, she had taught him that dreams were very powerful. His often reflected the emotions of those around him. His mother had intended to start teaching Tidus how to interpret them at age sixteen, but she had died before then. Still, Tidus knew a little bit of the basics. Let's see, sunsets in dreams often represented fate or what was to come. And people? Tidus couldn't recall what anything else in his dream signified. He glanced at the subject of his dream, the girl he was to spend an entire three weeks with. Yuna had ignored him since Monday, but he couldn't really blame her. If your parents are getting married, you don't want your sibling-to-be in your life, especially if you had a screaming match with them recently. Tidus still hadn't figured out what had made Yuna so angry that night. Had he really done anything wrong? He had thought about everything that was said between them and still had trouble understanding exactly what had happened. Tidus sighed. Women; he would never figure them out.

* * *

Jecht and Utada finished unloading bags from Utada's Toyota. She threw Tidus the keys, and, looking surprised, Tidus caught them. "You'll need those to run errands and get to school," she said. Jecht was unrolling a fat wad of bills from his wallet. "Here's $1000, as agreed," he said, and handed it to Yuna. "There's also a laptop set up inside the house for homework. Don't get any ideas, though. The internet has been disabled." Jecht grinned.

"How are you going to get home?" Yuna asked suspiciously. Jecht pointed to their neighbors' house. "I parked my sports car over there."

"Oh," Yuna said softly. "Well then, I suppose you'd best be off."

"One more thing," Utada began. "You'll have enough food for about two days, but then you'll have to go to the store to buy more. I strongly suggest planning ahead for this and going together. Food is expensive and $1000 could easily be spent in only one week if you're not frugal."

"We'll see you in three weeks," Jecht called. He had wrapped his arm around Utada and was herding her toward the car. They were sickening to watch, whispering and snuggling close. Yuna turned away. She picked up her bags and slowly dragged them inside, leaving Tidus standing alone.

A great start to such a promising vacation, Tidus thought bitterly as he squared his shoulders and walked into the house. It was a fairly nice condo, not as well-furnished as Tidus's house, but comfortable enough. Very few houses in Besaid were as nice as Tidus's. He had his own mini sphere pool in his backyard so he and his old man could go one-on-one against each other, as well as of rooms, despite the only inhabitants being Tidus, Jecht, and his mother, before her death. With the beach house, space was tight, but the ocean was right outside. You could listen to the sound of the waves as you went to sleep and watch the sunset on the back porch. Tidus sighed as he realized Yuna was outside on the back porch doing just that. It was a good thing she wasn't sitting on the couch, Tidus thought, remembering his dream from his nap during science.

Yuna stood, her nose almost pressed against the glass porch window, staring out at the sun. The colors danced in her hair, just like in Tidus's dream, but now she just looked sad. Tidus walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't even blink. Once the sun had disappeared behind the serene blue waves, Yuna turned around.

"Tidus, I know I was wrong when I yelled at you before, so I'm sorry. I was just having a really bad day. You didn't do anything wrong, I just exploded. Sorry." Yuna was looking down at her feet. This was new to her: apologizing to Tidus. He was taken aback. Yuna didn't apologize to him, ever. This was strange.

"Uh, it's okay, I guess. What I was going to say was, 'Let's make the best of this situation,' but I think you pretty much covered it. So, now that that's over with, do you want to eat something? I know how to make a few things." Tidus trailed off, waiting for Yuna's reply.

She smiled a bright, sunny smile that filled the whole room. "Sure. What do you know how to make?"

Walking into the kitchen, Tidus looked rueful. "Well, toast." Yuna uttered a laugh. "And," he continued, looking in a cupboard, "peanut butter sandwiches." Yuna opened the refrigerator and peered inside. "Hmm." She rummages around and brought out some cold cut turkey, mayo, tomato, lettuce, and bacon. "Can you fry bacon?" she asked.

Tidus chuckled. "Of course. Every man knows how to fry bacon" He had no idea how to fry bacon.

"Okay then, if you fry the bacon and make some toast, I'll do the rest."

"What're we having?"

"Club sandwiches," Yuna answered, searching around to find some plates and cooking utensils. Once she found everything she needed, Yuna plopped onto a stool near the island counter on which the stove was located.

"Aren't you going to, you know, go cook?" Tidus asked nervously. He didn't want her to watch him mess up while cooking meat. Meat was supposed to be a man's work. He definitely didn't want or need her to think that he wasn't a man.

"No, I can't start until the bacon and toast are done. Besides, I like to watch other people cook. If you watch enough people, then you start to pick up on their little styles of cooking. It's actually kind of fun to watch."

"Oh," was Tidus's reply. What was he going to do now? "Bring on the bacon," he said.

After watching for a few minutes, Yuna asked, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"No, not anymore." Tidus had been trying to fry the poor bits of pork, but was failing miserably.

"Did you ever?"

Swallowing his pride and admitting defeat, he replied. "Not really."

Yuna sighed and said, "Hand over the pan." She dumped the demolished bacon in the garbage and placed several pieces in the pan. Tidus took her seat and watched her in silence. Gracefully, Yuna cooked the bacon slowly, draining the grease, and every now and then adding a dash of salt and pepper. When she was just about done, she told Tidus to go and start making the toast. "Why?"

Yuna shot him a look of venom. "Because if you make it after the bacon is done, the bacon gets cold," she said in a mean tone. Her face froze and she quickly added, "Sorry, Tidus. I… I didn't mean it the way it came out."

"Mean what?" asked Tidus, deciding to forget about the whole thing. Yuna grinned at him and continued with her bacon.

When they had made their sandwiches, they took their plates and walked over to the table. Sitting down to eat, Yuna and Tidus sat down and actually had a civilized conversation.

"So," Yuna began, "I know we haven't exactly been the best of friends lately, but, I was thinking, maybe we should call a truce for the time being. At least until the whole vacation thing is over."

"Yeah," Tidus agreed. "I mean, what are we going to do around here all day? Play checkers?"

Yuna laughed, but not at Tidus's half-hearted attempt at a joke. Then she asked a serious question.

"What do you think our parents are doing now?"

"Hooking-up," was Tidus's response. He was obviously being serious too because there wasn't a trace of a smile on his face.

"Are you being serious?"

"Yeah."

Yuna shuddered at the thought of it.

"That's probably why they sent us away," Tidus said grimly.

"Huh?"

"Some alone time at my place."

Yuna's eyes widened. "You don't really think that, do you?" Sickening.

Tidus looked at her and then looked away. "Do you look that way because you believe me and don't want to or because you never thought about it before and realize I'm right for a change?"

When Yuna didn't answer, Tidus picked up his dish, put it in the dishwasher along with the pan, and left the room. On his way out he called, "I'll be in the room I'm normally in if you need me. I have to write my essay for Auron if we're going to the grocery store tomorrow. "

Yuna sighed and trudged into her plain, white room at her beach house home and shut the door. Things hadn't started as horribly as she had thought.

* * *

Tidus awoke at his desk, the laptop still on. Auron must've told his dad that he had a huge essay to write because the laptop had been set up in his room. There were posters of rock stars and blitz aces on his walls, along with the Playboy poster he had brought along from home. Fortunately, the computer had not frozen or deleted his unsaved work, so Tidus stretched, hit the save button, and then the word count button. He had been up until 10:30 last night and he still had 2000 words to go. Better get to it, Tidus thought.

Hit with sudden inspiration, Tidus vigorously typed the rest of his essay. In a half-hour, he had finished. Congratulating himself on a job well done, he jogged into the bathroom to take his shower so he could get over to the school and give his paper and his homework to Auron.

After he had finished showering, Tidus grabbed the keys to Utada's Honda and made his way to the garage. On the way out, he peaked in Yuna's room. She lay asleep on her bed, headphones over her ears. She must've listened to music until she fell asleep, Tidus thought. In a sudden rush of affection for her, he gingerly entered the room and took the headphones out of her ears, placing them on her bedside table.

While parking the car in the school's near empty parking lot, Tidus decided to make a sincere effort to be nicer to her. He walked quickly inside Besaid High, hoping to turn in his assignment as soon as possible, avoid Auron, and go back home to sleep for a few more hours. Auron would most likely want to give him a good, long lecture, but maybe he could avoid him. He passed the rows of dull, floor to ceiling lockers, all painted in the school colors, blue and silver. Making a sharp left turn into the west part of the school, Tidus entered Auron's classroom.

It was empty. Quickly, Tidus dropped his homework and essay on Auron's desk. Turning back around to face the doorway, he heard a voice.

"Thought that you could get off that easy?"

Auron was standing in the doorframe, holding a steaming cup of black coffee. Tidus sighed. He had been so close. "Come on, Auron, go easy on me. I left Yuna at home alone, sleeping, and I need to get back."

Auron raised his eyebrows. "From what Jecht said, I thought you two hated each other. I had no idea you were dating, much less living together. In fact, I thought Yuna was dating that Seymour character."

Now Tidus was the one in for a surprise. "Yuna is dating Seymour. There's nothing between us… You mean my old man didn't tell you?"

Auron shook his head. Tidus began spouting the whole story. He had no idea why he was telling Auron, of all people. Tidus didn't even like Auron all that much, but he had to wonder why Jecht hadn't told him.

"You're in for a very interesting three weeks," Auron commented thoughtfully.

"That's all you have to say? Nothing about the unfairness of it all?"

Auron ignored the question. "Go back home to Yuna. She'll be mad if she wakes up, finds you gone, and you didn't leave a note."

"How would you know, old man?" Tidus asked disrespectfully.

Auron looked grim and said seriously, "I learned that the hard way."

After that, Tidus bolted out the door. The last thing he needed was Yuna mad at him, especially on the weekends when they'd be together all day. He drove home and prayed Yuna would still be asleep. Pulling into the driveway, Tidus noticed there was another car there, a black Porsche. Who could be here? Tidus thought. Probably Squall. He was always getting new cars. Tidus entered through the unlocked front door, and felt a jolt deep in the pit of his stomach. He clearly remembered locking the door. It couldn't be Squall, he remembered suddenly; he was away for the weekend. Quietly, Tidus snuck into the kitchen. There was a faint crying coming from the end of the house, where Yuna's bedroom was. The back of Tidus's neck prickled. With a rush of adrenaline, he raced that way.

The door was slightly ajar. Tidus kicked it open to a horrific sight. Yuna lay, bruised and bleeding, crumpled on the floor. The tall, glowering Guado Tidus had come extremely close to kissing in his dream was standing over her raising a threatening fist. Seymour back was to Tidus, but Yuna saw him. Her eyes widened, and then, she fainted.

Seymour was about to wake her with a powerful blow, but Tidus and his quick blitzball reflexes caught him. Grabbing the surprised half-human freak from behind, Tidus threw him on the floor. His head hit with a satisfying clunk.

By this time, Yuna had recovered from her very short fainting spell, and was looking on with fear. Seymour was staring up at Tidus, expecting the oncoming blow. It hit square in the jaw, sure to leave a good-sized bruise. Everything Tidus had done or said that ticked Yuna off was coming back to mind. He had always said something about Seymour right before she blew her top. Seymour was a strong, persuasive guy, not stronger than Tidus, but strong enough to force a girl to do things. Angered by this sudden thought, Tidus grabbed Seymour's shirt and pulled him close. Their noses were tip-to-tip.

"Touch her or come near her again, Seymour, and I'll kill you."


	4. And Getting Friendlier

Disclaimer: I've said it before and I'll say it once again, I own zip. DO NOT SUE ME!  
  
Sorry for the long wait guys. I was almost done with this chapter when my floppy disc malfunctioned and I lost it all. Damn that floppy. It ruined my happy mood. I was doing great thanks to all you awesome reviewers out there. You guys kick ass! Let me know if I swear too much. Oh, I have to address an issue in the story. Tidus + Yuna does not = brother and sister yet. They may never be. You'll just have to keep reading and reviewing. Mwahahahaha. It's amazing what you can do as an author. The control you have is totally cool:^). By the way, I changed my penname to xblushx. Blushingmoon was a penname I hated from the beginning, but I didn't care too badly then. I just wanted a penname. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the long awaited Chapter Four. Yes, I realize even though I lost everything I wrote that it has been a while. Cut me some slack. I had to take the SATs, which are extremely annoying. Yeah, I think I failed the math section.  
  
WARNING: Seymour bashing will take place from now until the end of the story. Not that most people care. Living with the Enemy ~Chapter Four~  
  
After giving Seymour a final kick, Tidus carried him to the door, making sure to drag his head on the ground. Tidus threw him out the door. The Guado freak hit the driveway with a satisfying crunch of the gravel beneath him. Seymour groaned, but Tidus didn't hear him. He was too busy slamming the door and running back to the one and only thing on his mind now: Yuna. He had been so stupid not to realize what was going on. All the times she had blown up at him, just before she did he had said something about Seymour. Like that time in the science lab, Seymour had been waiting, and when she had come over and they had had that massive screaming match. It was always Seymour.  
  
When he reached Yuna, she was crouched low, cowering in the corner of her bedroom. Her eyes were red-rimmed and her face streaked with tears. A blurry wall of water covered her usually sparkling green and blue eyes, threatening to spill over in a fresh round of tears. There were visible red markings where bruises would later form on her arms and around one eye and her lip was bleeding. "Yuna," Tidus said softly. She snapped out of her trance. Looking up at him, Yuna sighed, almost inaudibly. Wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, "Where were you?" she asked. Tidus felt a pang of guilt, remembering leaving her home alone, asleep, with no note. "I woke up and you were gone."  
  
Tidus winced, but he answered in a steady voice. "I went to drop off my essay and homework at school for Auron. We were supposed to go shopping today, remember?" Yuna nodded. Tidus continued, "Should we still go? I mean." he trailed off. Yuna's face returned to its usual dutiful composure. "Of course," she replied, reaching for the wall to support herself as she stood. Weak on her legs, she sunk back to the ground.  
  
"You, um, can't walk?" Tidus said uncertainly. The old Yuna would have narrowed her eyes and said in an irritated voice, "Gee, I hadn't noticed," but this Yuna, whose secret she had held alone within the boundaries of her heart for months, said, "I'm not sure."  
  
Tidus inwardly rolled his eyes, but in a good natured way scooped Yuna up off the ground and carried her into the living room. Inside was an empty TV which usually held the big screen television that Jecht watched blitzball on Sunday night on. True to his word, he had unplugged and removed it from the house. However, the cushioned couch and coffee table were still there. There was also Utada's armchair which she read in during the evening in. Ever so gently, Tidus placed Yuna on the couch. He would do almost anything to get her out of that room, haunted with the swirling memories of what had happened not even ten minutes ago, mixing with past memories of Seymour taking his anger out on his girlfriend, the one person whom he supposedly loved and respected. Tidus's head was reeling with these thoughts as he brought an ice pack from the kitchen freezer to Yuna so her black eye wouldn't swell too badly.  
  
"Thanks," Yuna replied, taking the cold compress from him. Tidus just looked at her for a while. Sensing his eyes on her, she asked, "What?"  
  
Carefully, Tidus asked slowly, "Yuna how long has this gone on? I don't mean to, well, you know, pry into your business, but, well."  
  
Yuna didn't look directly at Tidus as she answered. "About two years now. He used to be so nice to me, so kind, but then," Yuna stopped herself. The physical and emotional attachment she had to him had been too great to break up with him. She had been so young when they began dating, and when he started to beat her, she didn't know what to do. He had seen to that. Remembering the first time, she had lain on the floor of his foyer, while he stood over her and said in a menacing voice, "If you tell anyone, I'll kill myself and frame you. You'll go to prison for murder." The one thing that shone threw Seymour's false character was his ability to follow through on his word, so coincidentally, Yuna didn't tell. Even now, she was reluctant to open her mouth.  
  
Tidus sensed her hesitance. "It's okay," he replied to her abrupt silence, "but maybe we should wait to go to the store. I mean--" He was stopped by Yuna's horrified expression. "What?" he asked. Yevon, what had he done this time?  
  
"Of course we should go today! We are living on a very tight budget! Just because of something Seymour did, why should we sacrifice our plans?"  
  
"Okay, okay, fine, we'll go. Why don't you change out of your pajamas, take a shower, whatever else you need to do, and then we'll go?"  
  
Yuna again looked at him in disbelief. "WHAT?" he asked again.  
  
"Aren't we going to make a list and cut out coupons? I mean, we have a limited amount of money and, well, we could spend it all on junk."  
  
Tidus sighed. "First of all, we have $1000 bucks, which is about $330 a week. Why can't we just go to the store and buy what looks good?"  
  
"Because," Yuna said, trying her best to be patient, "we have no planned meals for an entire week. We won't each nutritiously and that's bad."  
  
"Um, are you taking health and actually paying attention to it this term, Yuna?"  
  
"Come on! Besides, if we make a list, we'll have more money left over for snacks and junk food."  
  
Tidus sighed. "Okay. Let's compromise. How about we plan dinner for a week and then when we actually get to the store, we can figure out lunch, breakfast, and snacks."  
  
Yuna thought about this for a moment and then agreed. "Fine." She sat down on the couch while Tidus ran into the kitchen to get a pencil and paper. Sitting down beside Yuna, he asked, "How should we do this? I mean, do we have a budget for the price of the meal?"  
  
Yuna took the pad of paper from him and the pencil, and did some quick division on it. "Well, we have about 50 bucks to spend a day, so, that's about $15 per meal. You might want to get the newspaper and scissors. We'll need some coupons."  
  
An hour later, after much laughing and frustration, the list was made and Tidus was looking it over as Yuna took her shower.  
  
Tidus and Yuna's Grocery List:  
  
Day One: Macaroni and Cheese w/ Garlic Bread Items to Buy: 2 Stouffer's Mac & Cheese Microwavable Dinners* Frozen Texas Toast Garlic Bread Milk Pepper Estimated Cost: $16.99  
  
Day Two: Pizza w/ Breadsticks Items to Buy: None. It's called delivery. Estimated Cost: $7.99  
  
Day Three: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Items to Buy: Pasta* Canned Sauce* Ground beef Baguette Butter Estimated Cost: $9.60  
  
Day Four: Tacos (chicken, soft-shell) Items to Buy: Tortillas* Grated Cheddar Cheese Lettuce Chicken Salsa* Estimated Cost: $8.75  
  
Day Five: Soup Items to Buy: Ramen Noodles* Fruit Estimated Cost: $5.50  
  
Day Six: Pancakes Items to Buy: Pancake Mix Eggs Butter Syrup Estimated Cost: $10.10 *indicate coupon may be used for that item.  
  
They had argued about the last one. Pancakes were for breakfast, Tidus had said. Yuna retorted that breakfast foods could be used all day long. In the end Tidus had given in. Why, he wasn't sure. Maybe he was just sick of arguing. They had only planned six meals because last night had counted as part of the first week. While thinking about this, Yuna reentered the room, fully dressed in jeans, a green halter top, and flip- flops. Tidus had to do a double take, not because she looked totally beautiful, but her eye which was turning an ugly brown shade fifteen minutes earlier, was now normal.  
  
"What happened to your black eye?" he asked in disbelief.  
  
Yuna rolled her eyes, but was smiling when she answered. "It's called cover-up. Come on let's go."  
  
Tidus was hesitant. "Are you sure about this? I mean, you're not too beat up?"  
  
Yuna shook her head. "Nah. Seymour hits like a girl."  
  
"But it hurts in other ways than just physically."  
  
Looking down at her feet, Yuna agreed. "Yeah, it still hurts." Water droplets gathered at the corner of her eye, threatening to fall, but she brushed it away quickly. "C'mon! I want to go!"  
  
No, she doesn't, Tidus thought. She just wants to forget about the whole thing. She's not ready to talk about it to anyone, so why should I make her? When she's ready, I'll be there. Yevon, I'm starting to sound like Squall. Tidus said, "I'll go get my shoes."  
  
***  
  
After two hours of trying to find items at the grocery store, Tidus and Yuna finally returned home at about 3:00PM. "That was without a doubt the most aggravating experience in my whole life," Yuna said, walking through the door with an armload of brown paper bags filled with food in her arms.  
  
"Yeah," Tidus agreed, "and just think. We get to do it all over again next week."  
  
Yuna groaned and began putting things away in the kitchen. Tidus returned to the car to get the rest of the groceries. By the time he reentered the house, Yuna had put away all the groceries except for the ones he was holding.  
  
"Damn, you're fast."  
  
Yuna nodded. "At home, my mom buys the groceries and I put them away. It's a very simple process."  
  
"Right," Tidus replied. He began helping her put away the rest of the food. "Now we're left with the problem of what to do for the rest of the day."  
  
Yuna rolled her eyes. "I can't believe they took away the TV. I mean, that was totally unfair. We can't watch any movies either."  
  
"Hey, wait a sec," Tidus said. "We have the laptop, right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, maybe we can play DVDs on it! I'm sure Utada and my dad thought of this, and took all the DVDs out of the house, so we can rent some from a video store."  
  
"But Tidus," Yuna protested. "I don't think we have enough money for that. I mean, our parents thought of everything and they wouldn't just forget that we could rent movies from a store. Plus, we just spent over $250 at the grocery store and."  
  
".and our weekly allowance is 330 bucks! Why not splurge a little? Yevon, we saved maybe $10 with coupons. Please?" Tidus gave Yuna a puppy dog look and knelt on his knees. "Pleas, please, ppllleeeaasse?"  
  
Yuna smiled, but rolled her eyes. "Fine, but can't we wait until later this week? It's such a nice day, why can't we go to the beach? Besides, maybe we can get movies from our friends on Monday."  
  
Tidus thought about this. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining, the sky was a deep blue, and there were cotton-candy-puff clouds in the sky. "Okay, we can go to the beach, but that means that I get to pick out what movie we watch on Monday."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"I get the bathroom first!" Tidus yelled, and ran off into his room to grab his bathing suit. Yuna sighed good naturedly and decided to pack some food to take while she waited for use of the bathroom. She knew that her mom kept a picnic basket under the sink in the kitchen. Usually, Utada and Jecht would go off on Saturday afternoons and have lunch on the beach. Yuna forced the thought of what else they might have been putting in their mouths instead of food and put together some sandwiches from the things they had bought at the store. She added a couple of sodas, bag of chips, and some store bought cookies. When she was done with that and Tidus still wasn't out of the bathroom, she went into her room to grab her bathing suit. Searching through her suitcase (she still hadn't moved all her clothes into her dresser), Yuna realized that Rikku had taken out the only one-piece swimsuit that she had packed. Damn Rikku, Yuna thought. For some reason, she didn't want Tidus to see her in a string bikini, which was all that was left in her luggage. Yuna sighed. She had fought pretty hard to go to the beach and couldn't just back out of it, so she took the bathing suit made with the most material and changed in her closet.  
  
When she emerged from her room and returned to the kitchen, she ran smack into someone with bronze skin and a six-pack. A very nice, firm six pack. Yevon, what am I thinking? Yuna thought, separating herself from Tidus. "Sorry," she said quickly. Tidus was too busy giving Yuna the once over, and then doing it again to notice. Yuna hurriedly crossed both her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him and Tidus cracked a smile.  
  
"Nice suit." When her eyes became more close to slits than Tidus had ever seen them, he quickly amended his mistake, or tried to. "Hey, I was just kidding," he said, holding up his arms as if to fend off an attack.  
  
Yuna raised her eyebrows at him and said, "Let's just go." She grabbed the picnic basket and walked out the door, with Tidus close behind. "C'mon, Yuna. It was just a joke." The rest of the short walk through the sandy beach house beach house backyard and the 100 feet to the roaring waves, Yuna was silent, and after several attempts to redeem himself, so was Tidus. Well, it was a nice suit, he thought in his defense. He was right. The suit showed off Yuna's slight figure and soft skin, and was white with light pink polka dots, very 50's. Normally, Yuna didn't wear pink, but this was okay. She could suffer a little pink to save her dignity. It wasn't like she would come out of her room in the bikini Rikku had bought her for her. It was as close to going outside naked as you could get without actually taking it all off.  
  
Fortunately, Tidus had remembered the towels, as Yuna had forgotten them. He laid them down in the middle of the secluded beach. No one was there, save an elderly couple walking along the shoreline, talking most likely of better times. When Jecht or Utada bought property, they made sure that it was in a really private place. In this case, Tidus thought that they had overdone it. Where were all the hot chicks in bikinis? Yuna seemed to have forgiven him for the time being for his slight to her before, as she raced to meet the approaching wave, dragging Tidus by the hand right along with her. As she reached the water though, she stopped short and let go of Tidus's hand and let him fall face first into the salty water. "Hey!" Tidus yelled as he surfaced, sputtering. Yuna was already fleeing the scene, laughing. Wiping the water from his eyes, Tidus, grinning ear-to- ear, got up and began to chase after her.  
  
Tidus finally caught, both gasping for breath, partly because they had been running, but also because they were both helplessly laughing their heads off. They played around like little kids for about an hour, chasing and splashing, but both lacked the energy little monsters have a seemingly endless supply of, and soon tumbled onto their towels, starving and tired.  
  
Catching her breath, Yuna unpacked the stuff she had put together while Tidus shook his head like a dog, spraying water droplets everywhere. Yuna ignored this and tossed him a sandwich and a pop, "Here."  
  
"Hey, thanks," Tidus replied gratefully and tore the saran wrap off his sandwich and began chomping down, ripping bits of bread, cheese, and meat apart as if he was a wild dog. Yuna stared at him, disgusted, while he asked, with his mouth full, "What?"  
  
Rolling her eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, Yuna took a bite of her plain PB&J bagel, chewing rapidly. She was physically and emotionally exhausted from the day. She had done her best to forget about Seymour, but no matter how she tried, he entered her thoughts unbidden. She needed to talk about it to someone, anyone. She needed to reclaim what was hers, tame her mind. The only way to do that was talk about it. Her options seemed pretty limited to one person, and he was sitting right in front of, chewing with his mouth open. Oh well, Yuna thought. He's been great about the whole thing so far.  
  
"It started about two years into our relationship, like I said before," Yuna said slowly, looking down at the sand. Tidus stopped chewing. "Just words at first, calling me names, telling me I was fat, to go on a diet. Soon it grew to calling me a bitch, pushing me around whenever he was mad." Tidus didn't need to ask who 'he' was. "I didn't know what to do, who to tell, if anyone. I was scared." Yuna swallowed, and then continued.  
  
"I wanted to break up with him so badly, but. he said if I did that, then he'd kill himself, and make people think that I did it, that I was responsible." Yuna drew a shuddery breath. "I guess I believed him, 'cause I didn't tell anyone, not even my friends. Lulu knew, though I never admitted it. She didn't tell anyone though. The beatings were never too bad, but lately, they got worse, and maybe, if you hadn't done what you did this morning, he would've moved on to something.more."  
  
A cold sweat gripped Tidus's heart. He thought of Seymour taking the one thing he had not taken from Yuna, forcing her to sleep with him. Tidus banished the thought from his mind. It was too terrible, too sad, too disgusting. Instead, he dropped his food and grabbed Yuna and gave her a hug. She had started to cry again and her bitter tears burned Tidus where they landed on his shoulders and back. "Why didn't you tell someone, anyone?" he asked quietly.  
  
Still held close in a comforting hug, Yuna sobbed, "I didn't know if I should. I didn't know if it really was my fault."  
  
Tidus held a sobbing Yuna away from him, grasping her shoulders. "Don't ever think that Yuna!" he said fiercely. "It's his problem, not yours, his fault, not yours. We're going to put him in his place. We're gonna get revenge on him for you."  
  
Yuna didn't say anything, just sobbed into Tidus's shoulder, until she fell asleep.  
  
Tidus had to carry her inside, along with all their beach stuff, and it was quite a strain, even if he was an incredibly strong blitz ace. Laying Yuna down on her bed, he retired to his room, even though it was only 6 o'clock. He too, had had a rough day. What he didn't know was that Yuna couldn't escape Seymour, even in sleep.  
  
***  
  
A purple mist was rising. Yuna stood, alone, amid the deep fog. Swirling around her were past memories, forgotten ones of when she was a small child, savored ones of happy times, and those she wished she could forget. She was spinning slowly, round and round, gaining momentum, when out of the torrent of hazy purple, emerged Seymour, from one of her memories. She couldn't run, couldn't hide, was frozen. Seymour grew, was becoming larger, more powerful, coming straight for her. Awaiting the blow that was sure to come from his towering, anger, Yuna closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was in her room, sitting up in her bed. Outside, rain steadily hit the window sill. Lightning flashed, and a very loud boom of thunder followed that caught Yuna off guard. Still shaking from the thought of Seymour coming back, Yuna glanced at the clock that stood beside her bed. It was 1:45 AM. Another loud crash of thunder shook Yuna. If Seymour were to come back, no one would know. He would be shielded by the dark, covered by the stunning sounds of thundered. So what if he did come back? What would she do then? Tidus was likely to be asleep. She would have to be somewhere where he wouldn't expect her to be.  
  
Suddenly paranoid, Yuna crept along the hallway slowly. She walked to Tidus's room, just then noticing that she was still in her bathing suit. However, there was no way she would go back into her room now. What if Seymour was there? She pushed open Tidus's door. Creeping toward the sleeping figure in the bed, she gently shook him awake, the person who had helped her so much in the last day. He'd really have to care for her to do the favor she was about to ask him.  
  
"Tidus? Tidus!" she whispered urgently.  
  
"Huh?" Tidus asked sleepily. His eyes snapped open when he saw Yuna standing at the foot of his bed, in the middle of the night, in her bathing suit.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Tidus, I need to sleep with you tonight."  
  
Now he was wide awake. "What?!?"  
  
Author's Note: Ha-ha. No, not in that way, perverts. I don't think Yuna likes Tidus in that way yet. So, that was the long awaited Chapter Four. Hope you liked it. Even if you didn't, drop me a review. All you guys that reviewed last time, thanks so much. Unfortunately, a lot of people reviewed and I can't address all of you separately, so I'll just have to answer some questions about this fic.  
  
1) Yes, it appears that Tidus and Yuna will become brother and sister, but they don't. Even if they did, they wouldn't be blood related, so it wouldn't be incest, at least I don't think. It's better than this one book I read where a grandfather and a granddaughter got together. That was just nasty.  
  
2) Tidus was able to beat up Seymour because a) Seymour is a weak ass, and b) Tidus trains almost every day for blitzball. Height has nothing to do with it. Besides, in the actual game, he had to fight Seymour, what, like five times?  
  
3) Seymour knew that Yuna was at the house because she's there every weekend.  
  
4) This is not my first ever fanfiction. I write most of them out on paper before I actually post them. I've written several other Tidus/Yuna fics, but they all sucked, do I didn't type or post them. Okay, I think that's all. Any more questions? Tell me in a review. Even if you don't have a question, review anyway! ~Liz~ 


	5. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Disclaimer: C'mon! You guys all know that I'm broke and can't afford FFX-2, (at least you do now.) so I can't possibly own anything in this story. $ _ $  
  
This chapter deals with laser tag, a game I played once when I was maybe seven. That was a while ago, and I tried to remember the basic stuff about it, but if I got some of the facts wrong, forgive me. I tried. Okay, hope you enjoy this chapter. Please be sure to review!!  
  
~Chapter Five of Living with the Enemy~  
  
"I need to sleep with you," Yuna repeated.  
  
Tidus, still not fully awake, said, "Um, Yuna? We're not even going out."  
  
Yuna didn't bother to answer him, but just said, "Tidus, he's in my dreams. I.I don't want him to come back."  
  
Suddenly understanding, Tidus got out of his bed and wrapped Yuna in his arms, holding her close. They had been through so much in the pass day, and were closer then ever. "It's going to be okay," he whispered.  
  
Yuna then became aware that he was only wearing his boxers, and she wasn't much better in her bikini. It didn't matter, though. She just wanted Tidus to hold her, to keep her safe, like he had protected her before, keep her away from Seymour.  
  
The two of them stood there for a few minutes, soaking in the security, trying to forget the damage Seymour had wrought. Yuna's cover-up had long faded away, and even in the dark, the bruise around her eye was visible. After what seemed like a lifetime, Tidus pulled away. Gesturing toward his bed, he said, "I think this one is too small for us both to sleep in. Why don't we go into the guest room? It has a queen sized bed."  
  
Something deep inside Yuna was bursting, floating upward and away. He was actually going to do it? He was actually going to sleep with her, a big scared baby? Most guys she knew would have hit her, laughed at her, or tried to force themselves on her. Tidus had not done any of the three, at least, not yet. He could still force himself on her, but she somehow knew that he wouldn't ever do that. What was up? Was there at least one nice guy in the world? Controlling her inner emotions, Yuna softly replied, "Okay," to Tidus's previous question.  
  
The gust room was on the other side of the house. Walking there, Tidus led the way, holding Yuna's hand, tugging Yuna's hand. They passed the front door, and Yuna stopped abruptly. Tidus read her mind. "Don't worry," he said. "I locked it." Yuna's hand, which had grown tense, relaxed once again.  
  
They finally reached the room normally reserved for company and friends. Tidus walked over to the bedside table and turned on the lamp there. In the dim light, Yuna got another look at his abs. A crimson wave of red lit up her face. Fortunately, Tidus was too busy taking the many throw pillows off the bed to notice that she was blushing. Done with the pillows, Tidus pulled back the comforter and climbed in the bed. He was about to turn off the light when he noticed that Yuna wasn't beside him. Propping himself up on his elbow to look at her, he asked, "What's up?" It took a second for his hormones to kick in, but he did notice how incredibly hot she looked in her bathing suit.  
  
Yuna cocked her head to the side and said, "Thanks for doing this. I, well, really appreciate it."  
  
Tidus cracked an award-winning smile at her, and replied, "No prob." Yuna glowed and slid under the covers. The thunderstorm had ceased, but the steady beat of rain still sounded outside. Tidus's breathing had grown relaxed and heavy, having already fallen back asleep. Yuna slowly drifted into slumber to the pitter patter of rain on the window pane. Her last conscious feeling was that of Tidus wrapping his warm arms around her slim waist.  
  
***  
  
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!"  
  
Tidus was jerked awake and Yuna's eyes fluttered open to a high- pitched squealing. "Is that the fire alarm?" Yuna murmured sleepily in Tidus's ear, rolling over in his arms to go back to sleep. Tidus, realizing what the noise was, shook her back awake.  
  
"Huh?" Yuna asked groggily. Wordlessly Tidus was pointing at the door frame. Yuna looked in that direction and was suddenly wide awake. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Standing in the door frame were their four best friends, Rikku, Lulu, Squall, and Rikku. None of the girls looked very happy. "I could ask you the same question, Yuna," Lulu said crossly, eyeing the bed. Wakka and Squall, however, seemed happier with the situation before them. "You hooked a chick after one night?" Squall asked in disbelief. Wakka said, "Man, you're my hero!"  
  
Tidus and Yuna realized that they were in a somewhat awkward position and both jumped out of the bed. "It's not what it looks like," Yuna explained. The foursome didn't hear her. The guys were too busy looking at Yuna's figure and Lulu and Rikku were too busy staring daggers at Yuna to notice the guys giving her the once over. "Nice lingerie, Yunie," Rikku said stiffly.  
  
Tidus then jumped in. "Look, nothing happened. All we did was sleep."  
  
Wakka looked disappointed. Squall bothered to ask, "If nothing happened, why is Yuna only wearing a bra and underwear, why are you only wearing boxers, and why were you sleeping in the same bed?"  
  
Tidus was silent. He didn't think that Yuna wanted them to know about Seymour. He was trying to think up a good lie when Yuna answered. "It was the thunderstorm."  
  
"The storm?" Lulu asked.  
  
"Thunder?" Rikku squeaked, getting nervous. "Was there lightning too?"  
  
"Yes," Tidus confirmed, playing along.  
  
"II was scared," Yuna said meekly.  
  
"She wanted me to keep her safe, so we decided to sleep in this room together," Tidus added.  
  
"That still doesn't explain why Yuna's only wearing a bra and underwear," Squall said suspiciously.  
  
Yuna narrowed her eyes. "Look, it's not lingerie. When Rikku was helping me pack my suitcase, she added about five bathing suits as we are about two seconds away from the beach. Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and we decided to go the beach. I fell asleep there and Tidus I guess carried me home. I slept the rest of the day until I was scared by the storm."  
  
Squall still didn't look convinced, but the others seemed to understand, especially Rikku. "I know how you feel Yunie. Lightning scares me more than anything in the world." Yuna managed a weak smile and asked the group, "How did you guys get in the house?"  
  
"Your mom gave us the key, see!" Rikku said holding it up. "She called us all and said as a surprise we should take you to the movies or go do something!"  
  
"She also said that this didn't count as the time we were allowed to come see you this week," Lulu added.  
  
"Of course, she also wanted to see how well you two were getting along," Squall added under his breath.  
  
"Where should we go? It's, like, already getting late, ya?" Wakka stated, checking his watch.  
  
Tidus, who had been quiet, spoke up. "We can watch movies here if you guys can bring DVDs to school for us on Monday. Our parents sort of forgot that a laptop can play movies."  
  
"Yeah, so why don't we go do something fun and active?" Yuna suggested.  
  
Wakka, who had been hoping to snag a seat next to Lulu in the movie theater and was let down when he heard that they weren't going, suddenly perked up. "Why don't we go swimming? Not at the beach," he said quickly, seeing the others bored faces, "but how about at a water park, ya? I hear that they just opened a new water park near our school, complete with water slides!" He was just hoping to see Lulu in a bikini.  
  
"No, that opens next week," Tidus said.  
  
"Oh," Wakka said, again disappointed.  
  
"Besides, it's raining," Lulu pointed out, looking at Wakka as if he was a complete idiot.  
  
"We could go to a movie or go somewhere and do something," Yuna suggested. "Why don't we go play laser tag or something?"  
  
"Laser tag?" asked Tidus thoughtfully, scratching his head.  
  
"We don't have to go," Yuna said quickly.  
  
"No, no," Tidus said. "It's just that I've never done it before. Isn't it where you run around in the dark and shoot people with laser guns?"  
  
"Yeah," Yuna said. "Most of the people there are ten-year-olds and it's kind of kiddie, but it could be fun. It beats paintball because you don't get hurt when you get hit."  
  
"What do you think, guys?" Tidus asked the rest of the group. "Laser tag or a movie?"  
  
"Laser tag," said Rikku. What was more fun than shooting lasers at people?  
  
"Laser tag," said Squall. Maybe he'd get to be on Rikku's team.  
  
"Laser tag," said Wakka. You never know, maybe he could 'accidentally' run into Lulu in the dark. Fun.  
  
Lulu rolled her eyes. "Laser tag, I guess. Like Yuna says, if we can get past the childish part, it could be fun."  
  
"Laser tag it is, but we had better get dressed," Tidus said, gesturing toward Yuna.  
  
"I get the bathroom first!" Yuna called, running it that direction. She reached it first and slammed the door behind her. Tidus sighed and went into his room to change when he heard her turn the shower on.  
  
After twenty minutes of waiting around with nothing to do, Yuna emerged from the bathroom in a baby blue tube top with black jeans. She had grabbed a black jacket from her room and was carrying it on her arm. Tidus couldn't help but notice that she looked incredibly cute.  
  
"What took so long?" Squall complained.  
  
"I had to wash and dry my hair."  
  
Squall rolled his eyes. "Whatever."  
  
Yuna ignored him and said, "We need to split up in three teams of two. It'll be more fun if we all play alone than with two other groups little kids."  
  
The group was silent. Lulu saw Wakka eyeing her, so she quickly spoke up. "I'll be with Rikku."  
  
Both Squall and Wakka's hopes were shattered, as they both wanted to be with their crushes. However, Wakka was wearing his feelings on his sleeve while Squall said, "Wakka and I are together then."  
  
Tidus, who had been planning to be with Squall, was nonetheless happy. Yuna was okay, once you broke through her tough exterior. An inner part of him said that she was pretty hot too, but he ignored it. Their parents were getting married and she didn't think of him that way. He shouldn't think that she was hot. That was wrong. They'd be brother and sister soon. Brothers and sisters didn't think the other was hot. Snapping him out of his reverie was Yuna's voice. "I guess we're together, then."  
  
"Okay," Tidus replied. "Let's go."  
  
***  
  
Once they had arrived at the gaming area in Rikku's dad, Cid's, Suburban, the group paid for an hour session of laser tag. The cashier looked at them strangely, as if he had never seen seventeen-year-olds play laser tag, but Lulu gave him one of her famous icy stares, and he quickly went about his business.  
  
"Why are we only going for an hour?" Rikku whined.  
  
"Because we're going to get lunch afterward," Yuna explained.  
  
"Oh," Rikku said.  
  
They then split up to receive their laser guns and go to the three different entryways to the darkened room in which they would battle it out to the death, or who was going to pay for the pizza they were going to eat for lunch.  
  
Strapping a belt with a device that would detect if she had been hit around her waist, Yuna explained to Tidus, "Since we only have six people, we're playing differently than usual. There's no limit to how many times you're hit. What matters is how many time you hit the people on the other teams. At the end of the hour, the team whose lasers made contact with the most people is the winner. The team with the least hits is the loser. However, the number of time you're team was hit is subtracted from your final score. Loser buys lunch, and considering we're on a budget, we'd better not lose. Rikku is aggressive; Wakka and Squall have great aim, and Lulu will just lean back in the shadows until you come too near. Then she'll pounce. Our team also has an advantage. You play blitzball, so I'm assuming you're aim is good, and I play this all the time and know the layout like the back of my hand."  
  
Tidus was trying to work his mind around all the information she had just given him, and it took him a few seconds to register what she had said. "Wait a minute. Why do you play all the time?"  
  
Yuna looked up at him. "I baby-sit the kids who live next door to my mom and me. We come her all the time out of boredom."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Okay, so, when we get in there, there will be two pillars. That'll be our safe place where we meet if we need to formulate a plan. Okay?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Yuna put on her jacket that she had been carrying and zipped it up.  
  
"What's with the dark clothes?" Tidus asked her. "Are you just putting on the jacket because it's cold or what?"  
  
Yuna gave him an exasperated look. "It's camouflage. Are you ready to go?"  
  
She's really into this, Tidus thought. He nodded and put on his belt. Yuna handed him his gun and opened the door.  
  
The silence was deep and complete, uninterrupted. It was dark, except for the neon lights that outlined the two pillars Yuna had told Tidus about. Yuna grabbed Tidus shirt and pulled him toward the left pillar. Whispering in his ear, she said, "Here's our plan. One of us will stay here while another goes out and shoots. When the other comes back, they'll fill the other in on what's going on and send them out. One person will present less of a target for our team. After we've both gone, we'll go together. Sound good?"  
  
"Sure," Tidus said. "Why don't you go first?"  
  
Yuna gave him a wry smile and disappeared in the darkness. Tidus waited, listening for the sizzling sound of lasers in the deep quiet. The air was dead, waiting, holding its breath. ZEEE, ZEEEE, the sound of lasers erupted into the distance, a white fire slicing the air. Tidus closed his eyes, caught up in the game. He wanted nothing more than to go out there and help Yuna, but it was against their plan. Besides, she was a pro. She knew what she was doing. ZEEEE, ZEEEE, ZIP. More lasers went off. There was a faint laughing and Tidus heard Rikku say, "Hey! Yunie, that hurt!"  
  
"That wasn't Yuna," he heard Squall's deep voice say. ZEEE. Squall let out a loud, "HEY!" and Tidus heard the faint laughing again, but this time it was louder, coming closer.  
  
"Who was that?" Squall asked Rikku.  
  
Tidus shut his eyes, trying to control himself. He really wanted to go out there and have fun with the others, but he had agreed to stick with the plan, so he sank to the ground, leaning against the pillar. He was so intent on controlling himself that he didn't hear the approaching footsteps. "Boo," said a voice in his ear. Tidus jumped up, smacking Yuna's chin in the process.  
  
"Ow!" Yuna said angrily, doing her best to keep her voice down.  
  
"Sorry," said Tidus quickly. "I didn't hear you come up. Are you okay?"  
  
Yuna was rubbing her nose, but it was too dark to see if she was bleeding. "I'm fine. All right, if you walk straight you'll run into a cross section with four walls. Rikku's in the middle of the crossfire, Wakka and Squall off to one wall, with, like I said before, Lulu lurking in the shadows. Stay clear of her and move slowly and cautiously. Stay behind one wall and fire away. Try not to get hit too much."  
  
Tidus grinned and said, "You really like this, don't you, Yuna?"  
  
Yuna pushed him out of their safe zone. "On your belly, soldier!"  
  
"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Tidus replied, dropping onto his stomach, saluting her, and crawling forward. Keeping low, he heard the ZEEEs of lasers in battle. He soon came to the section Yuna had told him about. Crouching low behind one wall, Tidus waited for the opportune moment. Peeking out from behind his wall, he saw Rikku standing out in the open, firing at Wakka, saying, "Take that you big meanie!" Squall was laughing his ass off as Wakka tried to dodge Rikku's firing. Making his move, Tidus stood and shot a round of salvos at a hapless Rikku. Just as she was about to fire back, Tidus ducked behind the wall. ZEEE, ZEEE, ZEEE, ZEEE! Several shots went whizzing past his head. "Got her mad," said a voice from behind. Yuna had indeed snuck up on Tidus again.  
  
"You were supposed to wait for me to come back!" Tidus whispered in protest.  
  
Yuna shrugged. "I thought you might want to have a partner in crime."  
  
Tidus saw her glowing smile shine through the dark and didn't have the heart to tell her to go back to her station, like a good soldier should. He just sighed and said, "Okay, let's go."  
  
Like pros, Tidus and Yuna fired simultaneously at Squall, who was recovering from another round of laughter and had dropped his gun. Lulu had emerged from the shadows and was shooting laser after laser at Wakka, who was too mesmerized that Lulu came within five feet of him to do anything. Yuna reverted her blaster fire toward Lulu, whom didn't seem to notice. Meanwhile, Rikku, feeling left out, jumped on Squall and started blinding him with laser flashes to the head. Tidus took his chance and ran up and began firing at Rikku. That's when the lights came on and their time was up. The six collapsed on the ground, exhausted, and laughing hard. After a minute or two, they picked themselves up and filed toward the exit into a small room.  
  
"They're printing up each team's score on a card," Yuna explained.  
  
"That was so much fun!" Rikku said, bouncing up and down. Wakka agreed and Squall nodded. Even Lulu was smiling. Tidus took the liberty to say, "Great idea, Yuna." Yuna beamed.  
  
An employee delivered their cards and showed them the way to the parking lot. On their way out, they compared scores.  
  
Yuna / Tidus - Hits- 608 Hits Taken- 102 Total- 506  
  
Lulu/Rikku - Hits- 784 Hits Taken- 345 Total- 439  
  
Squall/Wakka - Hits- 559 Hits Taken- 442 Total- 117  
  
Tidus almost peed his pants when he saw his best friends' score. "You made a 117! You guys really suck! Yuna and I made a 506!"  
  
Wakka didn't look to happy to have been beaten by a bunch of girls and his best friend. He decided to just be a good sport. "I guess we're buying lunch."  
  
"That'll be three large five-topping pizzas with cheese bread and three two- liter sodas," Lulu said, smirking at the blushing blitzball player.  
  
"I didn't know you were such a pig, Lulu," Yuna said jokingly.  
  
Lulu made a face at Yuna and they all piled in the car on the way to the pizza parlor.  
  
***  
  
After a great lunch of two large pizzas, on one was cheese, the other was meat-lover's, Yuna and Tidus were dropped back off at their house. "Bye Yunie," Rikku had called out the window. "We'll see you tomorrow at school!" School. Seymour went to her school. Tidus seemed to read her thoughts, and walking back into the house, he put his arm around her. "It'll be okay." He said. "I'll stick with you and make sure Seymour doesn't come near you." After they'd entered the house, Yuna faced Tidus.  
  
"I just want it to be over with. I don't ever want to talk to him again."  
  
Tidus opened his mouth to say some general comforting words, but none came. He shut his mouth and it cracked into an evil grin. Pulling Yuna into the kitchen, he picked up the cordless phone. "Look, I have an idea. You want it to be over with, right? So make it that way. Dump him."  
  
"Dump him?" Yuna asked incredulously. "Can I really do that?"  
  
"Sure," Tidus replied. He turned the phone on 'speaker' and said, "I'll be standing right here. Just go ahead and do it."  
  
Yuna didn't look too confident, but she slowly and deliberately dialed Seymour's number. Tidus saw her fingers shaking. Seymour answered after the first ring. His cold voice filled the room, making a shiver go down both Yuna and Tidus's spine.  
  
"Hello." He said it like a statement, so cocky and arrogant, not like most normal people.  
  
"Seymour," Yuna said steadily, even though her whole body was shaking. Tidus placed his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Ah, Yuna, I've been meaning to call you. There's seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding yesterday. I -"  
  
Yuna cut him off. "There was no misunderstanding, Seymour. You hurt me. I should've done this ages ago. I'm dumping you. There is no more 'we', no more 'us'. It's over."  
  
Seymour's seemingly innocent voice became harsh. "What will everyone at school say, I wonder?"  
  
"Nothing," Yuna answered with equal bitterness. "Not when I tell them that we became just friends after you cheated on me. No one will ever go out with you again, you bastard."  
  
"No one will take you out again when I tell them that you cheated on me."  
  
"Who'll believe you, you filthy liar? Besides, I already have a new boyfriend."  
  
Tidus looked at Yuna with a questioning look.  
  
"Who would be stupid enough to go out with you, Yuna?" Seymour asked.  
  
"Well, you just dissed yourself, ass, because you went out with me. However, that was stupid of me, too. Now I'm going out with someone else."  
  
Dripping with sarcasm, Seymour's voice formed the question, "Who?" Tidus thought he also detected a note of fear in the voice, too.  
  
Yuna paused, glanced at Tidus, and answered, "Tidus Kishimoto."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Hey guys. Did you like it? Hope so. Sorry if Squall was really OOC. Um, I haven't actually played FFVIII, but I will. Soon. Yeah. The next chapter may take a while because I'm going to be extremely busy this week, so I hope this tides you over. The next chapter will be really fun to write, and what do you think Tidus is going to say? Hmmm.. Anyway, if I messed up the laser tag, forgive me. If you were hoping for them to go to the water park, that may happen. I also think I'll be uploading a new Tidus/Yuna fic soon, so if I do, send me a review and tell me what you think. ^ _ ^ Sorry if this chapter was boring, but I had to get it out of the way to make room for . stuff. Okay, I'm going to go upload this so you can read and review (hint, hint). Until next time, *~Liz~* 


	6. Dating

Tidus had luckily totally agreed to the pretend-boyfriend thing. Yuna closed her eyes as the hot water from the shower poured down on her. She remembered how he had smiled after she had hung up on Seymour before he could get in another word. In a way that made the charade-to-be okay, he said, "Let's just not go the whole ten yards in the dating thing." Then he ruffled his hair in the back, yawned, and left Yuna standing open-mouthed in the kitchen. She hadn't even gotten the chance to apologize to him. Last night, lying in bed, she had thought about how cute he had looked, ruffling his hair. This morning, however, standing in the shower's warm mist, she blamed these thoughts on physical and emotional fatigue. She couldn't think that way about her step-brother-to-be. She could not think he was hot. Turning off the water, she tried to get her thoughts together. Today was going to be very hectic, but really fun, too, rubbing the break-up and quick hook-up in Seymour's ugly, tattooed face.  
  
Bouncing back from break-up to "boyfriend" was hard work, and you had to dress the part of flirty girl who has already forgotten about her ex (s). Yuna was certainly doing her best to fill this role. Dressed in a pleated, jean mini skirt and cute pink top, Yuna fulfilled what Rikku called the 'Y Essentials.' She looked cutesy, flirty, and sexy all at the same time. A bit of lip gloss, some blush, heels, and a cool up-do completed the outfit. Instructing herself to be the Y Essentials, as Rikku once tried to teach her, Yuna walked into the kitchen to find Tidus eating a bowl of cereal in his boxers. He has such nice abs, Yuna thought. Oh crap. So much for not thinking that way...Yuna slapped a hand quickly over her eyes and mumbled, "Sorry, sorry, so sorry..."  
  
Tidus cocked an eyebrow at her, which she saw while peeking through her fingers at him. "Um, Yuna, it's not like you haven't seen me with a shirt on before." Seeing that Yuna was still covering her eyes, he added, "I could go put one on, if it makes you that uncomfortable..."  
  
Yuna hurriedly realized that if she didn't act fast, she may not get to stare at a lovely six pack for an entire meal. Taking her hand away from her eyes, she protested, "Oh, no, that's really ok. You shouldn't have to... uh, get up from your meal.  
  
Tidus snorted. "Uh huh, sure, whatever. So, this is the first official day of our relationship, right?" Yuna rolled her eyes at him. Imitating him, she replied, "Uh huh, sure, whatever."  
  
Yuna got a bowl and spoon and sat down at the table across from him. Reaching for the box of cereal, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and started to eat it dry. Tidus looked up from the sports section of the Besaid Times to give her a funny look when he saw her do that. Looking up, though, he noticed how pretty she looked. Taking a big bite of cereal, he surveyed her. She was collected, not over-done, but really cute. He couldn't tell if she had on make-up, which he liked. Girls were naturally beautiful. They didn't need to put black crap around their eyes and globby brown stuff on their lips all the time. The pink shirt accentuated her gentle features and lit up her face. She looked...hot. He found himself wondering if they would if they might have to share a public kiss while pretending to be going out. Tidus shook the thought from his mind. Coming back to reality, he told her, "You look good. You can't even tell you had a black eye."  
  
Yuna laughed. "Oh the wonders of cover-up!" Yuna got up and grabbed the sugar from a kitchen cabinet. Using her spoon, she sprinkled some on her cereal. "I knew it needed something," she muttered after taking a bite.  
  
Tidus gave her another funny look, but didn't mention her weird eating habits. Instead, he asked, "Why do you think yesterday our friends didn't say anything about your black eye?"  
  
Yuna stirred her dry cereal and replied, "I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I think Lulu knew. Rikku didn't. Rikku speaks her mind and listens to what others have to say, but she doesn't read into any of it. Lulu does. The guys definitely didn't know, unless Lulu told them. If she didn't, my best guess is that they were trying to be polite."  
  
Shrugging, Tidus finished his cereal, stretched, stood up, and said, "I'd better go get ready. We'll have a big day today, advertising our relationship." He winked at Yuna and then headed to his room. Yuna sighed. She had thought at least seven times in that three minute conversation about how hot Tidus was. Oh Yuna, she reprimanded herself, get a grip!  
  
The two drove to school. They didn't talk, instead listened to the radio. When Simple and Clean came on, Yuna couldn't stop herself from humming along. She even caught herself saying under her breath, "Don't get me wrong, I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?" Tidus gave her another look, but decided everyone had a right to sing along to their favorite song, so he didn't say anything.  
  
When they pulled into the school parking lot, Tidus looked directly at her and asked, "You ready?"  
  
Yuna smiled and replied with a small nod. "Let's do it."  
  
That was enough of an answer for Tidus who got out and walked around the car to open Yuna's door. He clasped her hand to help her out. After pulling her to her feet, he said reassuringly, "C'mon Yuna. This'll be fun. You have to admit that it will. Just follow my lead, and test out your acting skills." He slid his arm around her waist and walked very close beside her, as if they were attached at the hip. As they reached the inside of the school, Yuna could feel the whole student body staring at them. Ms. Popular and Super Jock? When did that happen? Are those two an Item now?  
  
Tidus smiled easily, looked only at Yuna, and kept pretending to whisper things in her ear. It was like he had done this a million times before. It wasn't until the thought had escaped in the depths of her mind that Yuna realized that he had. He had probably dated the greater half of Besaid High's female population. Now it was her turn. She laughed when he pretended to say something in her ear, gave him flirty, sidelong looks, and played along, just like he told her to. She soon saw Rikku and Lulu near their usual hangout spot in the morning. Rikku grinned and did a little motion with her hand over her heart, like her heart was beating extra fast. Lulu rolled her eyes at Rikku and waved. Yuna had called to explain what was going on last night. She made it to her locker without bursting from emotional overload.  
  
Yuna got her books out of her locker, Tidus stayed with her. After she had everything she needed, she closed the door and Tidus backed her up against the row of brightly painted full-size lockers. He stood in front of her, one hand resting on the lockers to the left of Yuna's head. He moved his face close to hers. Yuna half shut her eyes. Their lips were a fraction of an inch apart when Tidus whispered, "Hey, the worst is over, right? See ya in second period." Then the bell rang and he was gone. Yuna lingered only a moment, still feeling his presence around her. Then she hurriedly walked to homeroom. Blocking her way to the classroom door was a frightening tall individual with blue hair and a half-human form: Seymour.  
  
"So it's true. You and Kishimoto are an Item. Well, it seems that I've been replaced quickly."  
  
Yuna's eyes turned cold as she answered, "You can't replace someone who was never there for you in the first place, Seymour."  
  
Cunningly, Seymour answered back, "Are you saying I'm irreplaceable? Yuna, I'm touched." He reached out a single, long nailed finger and stroked her cheek. Yuna disgustedly swatted it away.  
  
Looking hurt, Seymour said, "Yuna, I know we've had a few problems, but we can work them out, can't we? Give me one more chance, please? What do you say?"  
  
Yuna looked at him in disbelief. "No, no, no, no, no, NO! You are all wrong. You beating me is not a small problem. We can't work it out! Wasn't nearly an eighth of my life enough of a chance Seymour? I've wasted enough of myself on you. You're old news. Get out of my way; I have to get to class." With that, Yuna entered homeroom and resolved to forget the whole incident and concentrate on something else.  
  
Heading for the back of the room where Lulu and Rikku stood talking, Yuna mentally erased Seymour from her presence and self. He wasn't going to touch her. All through homeroom and first period, Yuna tried to forget about Seymour, but was that really possible? She still remembered the pain, se still had the proof he left on her skin. Maybe, as the scars faded, so would he.  
  
Tidus rocked far back on the hind legs of his car. It was first period. He never paid attention in first period. It was the most boring class of the day. Besides, he had too much on his mind to pay any attention whatsoever today: training, his bad combined science grade with Yuna's, and ...Yuna. He had never seen any girl with such perfectly shaped lips. This was the girl who was going to be his new sister. Tidus let his front chair legs hit the floor, making him level to the ground once more. There would be at least one girl in Besaid High he wouldn't date. Well, not for real anyway. A pity such perfect lips were wasted so many years on scum like Seymour. It was a bit sad. Yuna was cute, there was no denying it. What was he thinking though? They were about to become siblings. Up until he has started living with her, Yuna had been Tidus's worst enemy. Now he thought she had perfectly kissable lips. This living arrangement was really making him screwy. Shaking his head, Tidus tilted his chair back one more time and let it go. Then he did something completely new. He paid attention to first period. He learned something new. First period was his English class. Before he had thought it was Math. He may actually pass that quiz tomorrow...  
  
Time passed quickly. Second period was mostly uneventful. Auron not only did not tolerate any talking in his class, he most certainly didn't tolerate what he called "too much familiarity between pupils." Tidus's chair, however, was considerably closer to Yuna's, not enough for the instructor to notice, but enough for everyone else to. Third period went by in the blink of an eye, and then it was fourth period, the climax of the entire school day, lunch. At lunch, you get to see all your friends, talk, fool, around, and get the new hottest gossip. Fourth period lunch was like a gossip bulletin board. Want people to know something about you? Advertise it there. Yuna thought about all this as she dug in her back pack for her lunch money. Apparently, word hadn't circulated the whole school that Yuna and Tidus were together, because someone came up behind Yuna and wrapped an arm around her waist in a too-friendly manner. Yuna turned around to see a sophomore boy whose face she recognized, but couldn't bring his name to mind.  
  
"Yuna, babe," he said, his voice cracking. It was still a bit high, like it hadn't changed yet, or was in the process of doing so. "You, me, Saturday, the movies, my treat. What do ya say?"  
  
A voice from behind replied, "Hey, kid, you, me, my fist, your face right now. What do ya say?"  
  
He got the message and backed away. Yuna turned to see a face she could name this time. Playing the part of new 'girlfriend,' Yuna jumped at Tidus giving him a big hug. Pressing her face seductively against his cheek, she whispered in his ear, "This is actually fun, in a demented sort of way."  
  
Tidus grinned at her, and Yuna released her grip on him. He placed his arm casually around her shoulder as the waited in the lunch line together, and it stayed there, even after they'd gotten their food and gone to sit with the gang, Rikku, Squall, Wakka, and Lulu. Squall and Wakka had accepted their friend's new union with Yuna and sat moved over to Yuna, Lulu, and Rikku's usual table.  
  
"Hey everyone," Yuna greeted them, smiling. Tidus high-fived his two best buds, which was enough salutation for him. Remembering to be polite, though, he smiled briefly at Rikku and Lulu.  
  
"How's Besaid High's newest couple today?" Rikku asked teasingly and Yuna shot her straw wrapper at her.  
  
"Ow! Hey, don't be such a meanie, Yunie!" Rikku pouted.  
  
"The way you two hang on to each other is almost...nauseating," Squall said, standing up for Rikku.  
  
Yuna rolled her eyes and Tidus replied, "Whatever, man. At least people think I have a girl, unlike some other people..."  
  
"Ya, man, think," Wakka put in, "but you two aren't really..."  
  
"Aren't really what?" a cool voice behind Wakka asked.  
  
Yuna's fists clenches when she saw who it was. Through gritted teeth, she said, "Just go away Seymour!"  
  
"Aw, am I unwelcome here?" Reaching across the table, he put his tray down next to Yuna's. Later, Yuna swore at that moment, that the entire caf fell silent.  
  
"No, you aren't," Rikku answered for the group. "No one here is your friend. Yunie isn't your girlfriend. Just leave us alone. Your slimy face annoys us."  
  
Seymour put on a mock look of hurt. "Oh, but Rikku, didn't Yuna ever tell you? We were never really going out. In all the years we were together, we never once made it to first base. Is that really considered going out? I warn you Tidus, Yuna is far too prudish to ever satisfy your..."  
  
He didn't get another word in. Instead, he was thrown backward from the force of the blow. Blood was streaming from his nose where he had been hit. Yuna wiped excess blood off her fist with a napkin. "You think I would let your wormy tongue in my mouth? Think again!"  
  
Yuna's friends were staring at her. "I, uh, never knew you could hit so hard Yuna," Lulu said, dumbfounded.  
  
"You go girl!" sang Rikku, thrusting one fist in the air and bouncing around in her Rikku Dance.  
  
"Better not get on Yuna's bad side man," Wakka joked playfully, laughing at Tidus.  
  
Yuna didn't even have time to celebrate. Seymour was up and coming at her, with hell in his cold eyes. Lunging across the table at her, he grabbed Yuna's shoulders, only to be socked in the eye by Tidus, at his feet at Yuna's side. Clutching his eye, Seymour stumbled back again.  
  
"Get out of the way, Yuna," Tidus told her, making his way around the table to face Seymour. The whole cafeteria remained silent watching.  
  
Seymour again, recovered fairly quickly, and powered by his rage, came at Tidus and pummeled him in the stomach. Tidus winced, buckling for a minute, but trained to put aside pain for later, just like in blitzball, came back strong.  
  
Rikku watched, moving all around in her seat, making jabs with her fists, and yelling instructions at Tidus and insults at Seymour! "Take that, you big poopie face!" she cried. Lulu looked on calmly, but she was slowly shredding a napkin to bits in her lap. Wakka and Squall cheered their friend on, but Yuna looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. If either of the two guys were seriously injured it would be her fault. She was the cause of the fight. She didn't care about Seymour, not at all, but what if Tidus got hurt protecting her? She would never be able to forgive herself.  
  
It was then that Auron came in the lunch room and broke up the fight. "What in Yevon's name do you think you're doing? This is a school. Next time take your problems elsewhere. For now, come with me." Auron started to walk away, expecting the two young men to follow him. Seymour stopped him by saying, "Yuna started it."  
  
Auron stopped and faced Yuna. Sighing he said, "Ms. Suzuki, I suppose you had better come along too."  
  
Slowly, Yuna rose from her seat. "What are you all looking at?" Rikku called to the entire student body population who was staring at Auron retreating to his classroom with Seymour, Tidus, and Yuna in tow. "The show's over. Finish you lunch."  
  
Okay, that's all guys. Next chapter may be out soon, may not. Check my online journal for it though. Be sure to review this chapter there to let me know what you thought. Like I said, I am no longer aloud on fanfiction. A friend even uploaded and posted this for me. Thanks Yuffie!!!  
  
Until next time,  
  
Liz 


	7. Crushing

Chapter Seven- Living with the Enemy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plotline. It's MINE, all MINE! Mwahahahaha.

Sorry about the long, delayed chappie. I know, it really has been a while, but I want to thank those people who stuck with me and kept reading. This is a pretty short chapter, and for that, I'm sorry. I wanted it to be a Tidus/ Yuna bonding thing, so… yeah. FORGIVE ME! I know I keep promising this, but the next chapter will be more eventful. The

* * *

means a change in POV(point of view). hee.

Liz

* * *

The fluffy, gray clouds began to gather over the sea. The water began to boil and tremble as if it knew something bad was going to happen. Yuna _knew_ she should probably go inside, but, sitting on the beach, watching the weather, she knew that the clouds and ocean matched her mood. A plump, single drop of rain fell from the sky and landed on Yuna's already wet cheek. On top of everything that had been going on, with Jecht and Utada marrying, Tidus moving in with her, Seymour being his normal, abusive self, Auron just had to go and suspend them for a week. It was all too much for Yuna to take right now. She didn't need another big problem to take care of.

The drops of rain fell in a steadier pattern, and Yuna's mood worsened. Nobody could seem to help her. Compared to some people's lives, Yuna knew she had gotten a pretty good deal. She didn't have to support herself, since she still lived with her mom, and they had a pretty good relationship. She didn't have a baby to take care of, like so many other girls at her school. She was okay looking and happy with how she saw herself in the mirror. She knew she had a life better than most. Still, she thought. Why did _this_ happen to me? What did I do to deserve _this_? She recalled the events that occurred earlier that morning with regret: Auron's stony face, telling them their punishment, Seymour sneering when Auron's back was turned, whispering that awful thing to her, bringing tears to her eyes.

"You good-for-nothing bitch, you got me in all this trouble. If you ever lay one of your slutty hands on my again, I swear, I'll come after and beat you 'til you're within an inch of going to hell, where you belong. Believe me, you'll wish you were there long before I'm through with you."

Those petrifying words sent a shiver down Yuna's spine, partly because of all the hatred in his voice and burning in his eyes, but mostly because she knew he could do it, and that he would do. Then, just as the horror of Seymour's inhumanity began to set in, the three of them were released from Auron's side. No sooner were they out of range than Tidus tripped Seymour, sending him flailing onto the ground.

"If you ever talk to my girl like that again, Seymour, I'm going to hunt you down, find you, and murder you in cold blood, then, throw your stinking carcass into the ocean so no one finds you and has to hear from you ever again."

There had been more, much more, but Yuna hadn't listened to it. When she had been Seymour''s girlfriend for those many years, he had never referred to her in those two words she had always wanted to hear. My girl—Tidus had called her _his_ girl. Ever since she had been a little girl, that was her father's nickname for her. Yuna had always been Braska's girl. Tidus, even though they technically weren't going out, had called her his girl. It was probably all part of the act they were putting on, but he had called her his girl. For those few minutes in the school hall, she had been his girl. Inside, it made her glow. It made her feel indescribably happy. She once told Lulu about how Seymour never called her this, and Lulu had said it was anti-feminist, and that men should not call women their property. Yuna knew this, but she still thought it was the most utterly romantic, wondrous thing to say. It erased all the scars Seymour had inflicted with his hurtful mental and emotional abuse, and Yuna was in a tailspin.

Tidus had called her _his_. She was _his_ girl. The rain was coming fast and furiously now, with no promise of letting up anytime soon, and Yuna was getting soaked. Yuna was his girl now, and she didn't care about her hair, getting wet, or catching a cold. Trying unsuccessfully to shake the thought from her mind, it filled her head.

"_I think I like him."_

Laughter bubbled up inside her. What a stupid notion. Jecht and Utada were getting married. She simply couldn't like Tidus.

"_But I really think I like him."_

Shaking her head, Yuna frowned. This was Tidus: Tidus, who had been her worst enemy. Tidus, who had mocked and teased her. Tidus, who was her lab partner and her mom's best friend's son. This was Tidus: Tidus, who had saved her from Seymour more than once. Tidus, who played laser tag with her, slept with her when she had nightmares, and made club sandwiches with her. This was Tidus, and he had called her his girl.

It was too late now, Yuna knew. She couldn't stop what she felt. Jumping up, she ran in the rain toward the beach house. Swinging the door open, she plodded her way into the kitchen, not even stopping to get a towel. There, in the kitchen, she stopped and stared. There was Tidus, drinking straight from the carton of milk. She just looked at him for a few moments.

"What?" he asked ruefully.

Yuna giggled. This was Tidus, the boy she now liked.

* * *

Scratching his head a little apprehensively, Tidus looked at Yuna, sopping wet, giggling at him. Her mascara had run down below her eyes. "You look like a drowned raccoon," he told her.

Giggling, Yuna replied, "Am I a cute drowned raccoon?"

Screwing the lid back on the carton of milk, he gave in. "Maybe," Tidus replied, grinning.

Yuna seemed to think that this was the funniest thing in the world and began laughing even harder than she had been before, and Tidus shook his head, and went to get her a towel.

After she had dried off and Tidus had wiped up the floor, Tidus glanced Yuna's way. She was a pretty cute, even if she did look like a drowned raccoon. Her jeweled eyes shone with intelligence, and she had a sincerity about her, unlike most of the girls at Besaid High. If he was forced to spend a week suspended from school with anyone, it would probably be her.

"We have a lot of time to kill. We can meet up with Rikku, Lulu, Squall, and Wakka later, if you want, but they don't get out of school 'til 3:30. It's not even one yet. Wanna do something?"

Yuna, whose laughter had subsided, answered, "I picked laser tag last time we went somewhere. You choose."

Tidus thought about it, and then told her, "Why don't you go get ready while I think about it? I know it takes girls forever to get ready to go somewhere."

Yuna hopped off to blow-dry her sopping hair while Tidus thought. Usually, he made split second decisions, but since it was raining out, their options were limited. Usually, when he had free time he'd go out and practice blitzball, even in the rain. Sometimes, he'd go to the movies, but right now, he knew there were no shows he really wanted to see. Stretching his memory far back, he used to think of what he and his mom would do together on rainy days. She didn't like him to practice blitzball in the rain. It was always a continuing argument between Jecht and Tidus's mother about playing in the rain. Often, the young mother and son would go to the library, and maybe to an occasional indoor playground. Tidus remembered, however, the best times they had together being at a small pottery shop where you picked a piece of pottery and painted it yourself. It was so long ago, but he still vividly remembered long afternoons spent painting piggy banks, plates, cups, and bowls with his mom while the sound of rain pelted the tin roof. Sometimes, she would let him watch the native Besaidian women work the pottery wheel, making pieces of crockery from wet lumps of clay. Maybe, if he remembered where it was…

Calling to Yuna, Tidus yelled, "Yuna? When you're getting dressed, wear old clothes, okay?"

An hour and a half later, after driving for what seemed like forever through pelting rain and getting lost twice, the two teens were happily painting away. The sound of the rain mingled with the classical music playing softly, and Tidus glanced at the muffin Yuna was painting. It was a muffin with sprinkles on top, and the top of the muffin came off and opened like a pot. She wasn't even a third of the way done, while he had almost completed his blitzball shaped jar.

"Jeez, Yuna," he remarked. "You're a slow painter."

Yuna, who had been in deep concentration, glanced up at him and smiled. Her hair fell in her face, and she had a bit of purple paint on her nose. "I'm a true artist," she retorted in mock anger. "Don't rush me."

Tidus would have rolled his eyes, but he caught himself staring at her lips again when she smiled. They were so perfectly formed, so nicely pigmented. He noted the lush, bubble gum pink color that was so kissable and the shapes her lips made as she talked. He bet himself they were soft and ill-used, if what Seymour said had been true, about them not making out. He wondered what they really would feel like… Better yet, what would they _taste_ like? He tried the shake the thought out of his head as he mentally chastised himself. Dude, he reprimanded mentally, she's gonna be my sister.

To bring himself out of his lip fantasy, he said to Yuna, "I guess I'm pretty good at picking out first dates, eh?" Then he chuckled at himself, and Yuna's bi colored eyes twinkled at him.

Playfully, she asked him, "Do first kisses come in the first date package?"

Oh, just wonderful, Tidus thought. She can read minds.

* * *

Oh Yevon, Yuna thought. What am I doing? Why am I flirting? He's going to be my _brother_. We're going to be related. He's going to live in the same house as me, probably, being the lady's man he is, bringing girls home every night. Then what will I feel like? Crushed, I'll feel completely crushed. Wait… that's probably what this is! A crush, just a rebound crush! Rikku always talks about them. I'll just have to ride it out…

Tidus interrupted her brain's furious yelling at her by teasing, "We'll have to see about this whole kiss thing. From what Seymour said, you aren't very experienced."

Yuna gaped at him. "That is so untrue! Don't believe anything Seymour says."

Tidus laughed at her frustration, then added, "Yeah, but you admitted it! You said, 'Ewwww! I would never let you put your wormy tongue in my mouth!'' Tidus mimicked her in a high voice and put a look of disgust on his face.

Yuna had to laugh at this, but responded quickly. "Still Tidus, even if I'm not all that experienced, it's not something I can't learn."

Thoughtfully, Tidus painted one of the spikes on his blitzball. "You never know what could happen," he said slowly.

The two finished painting, talking about this and that, but his words kept ringing in Yuna's ears. You never know what could happen…

* * *

Flipping through the pages of her newest _Seventeen_ magazine, Rikku lay on her back, half hanging off her bed, twirling a piece of her long, blonde hair with her fingers. Just as she was beginning one of the magazine's quizzes, "Are You Two Made for Each Other?", her cell phone started playing her newest ringtone, Candy Shop by 50 Cent. Although she didn't much like the song, it was her dream to be in a remake of that music video. Rolling over on her stomach, Rikku reached for her phone, which she had tossed on her dresser. "Rikku here, at your service!" she answered cheerily.

"Rikku?" Yuna's voiced whispered through the phone.

"Yunie, what happened to you? Are you expelled?" Rikku urgently asked, immediately paying full attention to her best friend.

"No, we're all just suspended. Listen, though, Rikku, this is important…" Yuna was sitting in her closet with the lights out, whispering on her cell phone.

"Okay, but could you speak a little louder, 'cause I can't hear you all that well."

Yuna raised her voice a tiny bit, but continued whispering. "Look, Rikku, I'm having guy trouble and.."

"GUY TROUBLE?" Rikku shrieked, cutting her cousin off in mid-sentence. "Is Seymour, that bastard, stalking you or something, 'cause if he is, I swear, I'm gonna pull out every one of his fingernails, then make him eat them!"

Yuna couldn't help but laugh at her normally sweet friend's threats, but then added, "No, Rikku, it's not Seymour. It's about Tidus."

"What! Is Tidus beating you up now?"

"NO Rikku, let me finish. I think… I think I like him."

Rikku stared at her phone in disbelief. She held it away from her face, examined it, then returned to the conversation. "Um, Yunie, I don't think I heard you right. Could you repeat that for me please?"

Yuna gulped, but restated her confession. "I think I like Tidus."

Rikku smacked her forehead with the heel of her palm, and moaned. "Yunie, you know I'm always gonna be there for you, in everything, and I have been _waiting_ for you to confide your guy problems to me, but I never thought it would be this complicated. This guy is gonna be your brother, and you like him? Are you sure?"

"Well, pretty sure," Yuna said uncertainly.

"Okay then," Rikku said brightly. "I wish I could come over and give you some tips, but I don't think that would work that well, with Tidus being around and all, so you'll just have to listen carefully. How long are you suspended for?"

"We're going to come back next Monday," Yuna said.

"Alright! You have a whole week to get him to realize that he's already in love with you."

"He…is?" Yuna asked blankly.

"Of course he is, silly! Well, if he's not, he's crazy. So, just remember everything I've already told you, the Y Essentials, how to flirt, and stuff like that, rent a romantic movie, and make a move."

"Is that all?" Yuna asked. "It's been so long since I had to do all this to get a boyfriend, you know."

"That's all there is to it," Rikku chirped. "Just remember, always use protection!"

"RIKKU!" Yuna shouted, forgetting to whisper. "That was totally unnecessary."

"Hee-hee, I couldn't resist."

* * *

Okay, so, next chapter out soon, hopefully. Leave me a review, ask me a question, I'll love you forever. Oh, and OOC stands for out of character.

Liz


	8. Rikku to the Rescue!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything, I would have made YRP into Barbies by now. Tidus would make a good Ken… I would've had more fun as a little kid! I miss being really young.

A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! They inspire me to write more, and fast! Heh. This one wasn't quick enough, I know. I'm working on kicking it up a notch, no worries. Glad you liked the last chapter, and hopefully you'll like this one as well. I'm also writing the default chapter of another Tidus / Yuna fic. Hehe, I just put one up, and I have another idea. If it works out okay, I'll post it. I'm not quite sure I've developed a good way to begin it yet, but I won't bore you with the details. haha.

liz

ALSO, as this chapter takes place at Rikku's house, you may want to bring up an Al Bhed Translator online by googling "al bhed translator". Everything is pretty self- explanatory, but it's finnier if you have one up, in my opinion. A good site to use is **www. pixelscapes . com /twoflower/albhed.html** and I don't own that either. take out the spaces. :)

Living with the Enemy- Chapter Eight

Yuna hung up with Rikku, and climbed slowing out her closet, trying not to rustle her clothes and cause too much noise. She had a lot of work to do if she wanted to snag Tidus. He was, after all, extremely popular with girls, and he knew it, too. Contemplating her bubbly Al Bhed cousin's advice, she asked herself a question she had kept in the back of her mind all day and refused to acknowledge. What really would be the purpose? Their parents were getting married soon… If Tidus and Yuna had a relationship in the remainder of the three weeks they were to spend alone together, it would certainly make the whole brother/ sister thing harder than it would be without any sort of… Yuna's mind searched for the right word. It would be a hell of a lot harder if things got physical. A "normal" sister and brother didn't go off and make out when their parents were too busy canoodling to notice. Standing up, stepping out of her closet, and brushing off, Yuna made a decision. She definitely needed help, not over-the-phone, rushed advice. She grabbed her purse, put her cell phone snugly inside and walked to Tidus's room.

Knocking gently on the frame of the door to announce her presence, Yuna gingerly stepped into Tidus's room. "Hey," she said softly. Tidus was sprawled on his bed, reading something Yuna vaguely recognized as a blitzball strategy book. Tidus looked lazily up at her.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

A twinge of a smile twitched at Yuna's lips. He was so comfortable in his own skin, so confident, so appealing. Holding back the raging emotions working inside her, she steadily answered, "I'm stopping by Rikku's for a while. I have my cell if you need anything."

Teasingly grinning up at her, he replied, "I know I should probably have my girlfriend's number by now, but I don't."

In a rush, Yuna told Tidus she would leave it on the kitchen counter, hurriedly scribbled it down, and then headed out the door. If she ever needed Rikku, she needed her now. Through all her problems throughout the years, whether it was someone throwing sand in her eyes at the chocobo farm when she was six, or tips for kissing when she was twelve, to Seymour advice when she was fifteen, Rikku had always been there for Yuna. Yuna needed Rikku now, more than ever, because, just then, in Tidus's bedroom, she had to resist the urge to pounce on him and give him her love- all her love.

* * *

Not even bothering to knock on the _Sycdan-Dreav_'s, Yuna let herself in with the key her Al Bhed uncle had given her when she was still as tall as his knee. Although it was late, she knew she was welcome in their home at any time. The only rule Cid had ever set out for her was to talk to him in all Al Bhed when she set foot on his premises. Proud of their heritage, the _Sycdan-Dreav_ family was careful to show it off. Instead of the standard "welcome" mat at the front step, Rikku had made a feather and bead mat with '_FAMLUSA_!' scrawled across it. Every time Yuna saw Rikku's string of exclamation points after the Al Bhed word for welcome, she smiled at her cousin's bubbly, free-spirited nature. "_Ihlma Cid? Rikku? Yna oui rana? Ed'c sa, Yuna_!" 

Greeting her mother's brother's family and not expecting much of an answer, Yuna plodded into the house and to Rikku's room. Opening the door, Yuna saw Rikku, her face almost purple from lying upside down reading her magazine. "Hey Yunie!" Rikku squeaked as she tumbled off her bed. As normal color was restored to Rikku's face, she showed Yuna the shoes Seventeen magazine was selling that she simply had to have.

Plopping down on one of the many bean filled pillows in Rikku's room, Yuna began to spill all of her troubles to Rikku.

"I'm having this huge problem, Rikku. Tidus is just killing me. I like him so much. He's the first guy- ever – to really care about me. He protected me from Seymour, and beat him up for me. He got suspended for me, pretended to go out with me, and let me sleep with him!"

Rikku broke in with a giggle. "Yeah, that was a classic Yunie. So what's the problem? He's your perfect guy."

Yuna stared blankly at Rikku. "Um, _rammu_? Hello? Our parents are getting married. We're gonna be brother and sister. _Pnudran yht cecdan_! Yevon, that's like you going out with Brother!"

Rikku looked at Yuna blankly. "No, it's not. You and Tidus aren't blood related. Plus, your parents aren't married yet. They could still change their minds."

"Fine," Yuna retorted. "Let's imagine for a minute that Tidus and I could go out."

Rikku held up her hand. "Hang on, Yunie. I need to visualize this." Yuna groaned when she realized what was coming. Rikku reached under her bed and pulled out her humongous storage bin full of Barbies.

"I know what you're thinking, Yunie. I really should use those moogles and plushies I have instead, but you look more like Besaidian Beach Barbie than a stuffed animal with black wings, a big nose, and a red ball dangling from its head." Glancing up at Yuna, she added, "Don't tell Lulu that I don't like those moogles she gave me."

As Rikku pulled out the Besaidian Beach Barbie with hair cut by Rikku herself, just to match Yuna, and Perky Blonde Bombshell Party Barbie with beaded hair, Yuna did have to admit they resembled her and Rikku. Tossing Yuna the doll version of herself, Rikku commanded, "Dress her up!" Sighing, Yuna did as told. Searching through the pile of Barbies for a cute top to dress up "Little Yunie" as Rikku called it, her bi-colored eyes managed to locate a cute white wrap shirt, a black bikini top to use as a bra, a long blue skirt, some white but tinted pink kimono armlets, and black boots.

"Interesting," commented Rikku, who had dressed her doll in a yellow bikini top, a green cargo skirt, and a utility belt. "I thought you would've spiced it up a little more, like usual, since it is Barbie, and she can walk around naked if she wants!"

Almost to herself, Rikku added, "What a life!"

Getting back to business, Rikku began rummaging through her box again. "Now we just have to find a suitable Ken to be Tidus! We'll probably need to find one with the non-painted on hair…" After a few minutes, Rikku found a suitable surfer-looking Ken with wild hair that was not painted on his head, but she still needed to find him some shorts. Tossing her Ken, Rikku told Yuna, "There's scissors on my desk. Cut his hair."

"What? Why?"

Snatching Tidus-Ken from Yuna's hands, Rikku pointed to his head. "Look at his hair! It's all flat and icky! Tidus has very fine, choppy, layered hair! Have you not noticed this? Granted his hair isn't as extraordinarily shiny and shimmery as Squall's, but still. You should have seen that right off!" Blinking, Yuna again obeyed and picked up the scissors and attempted to chop up Ken's hair to match Tidus's. Eyeing her, Rikku sadly shook her head, gently took the scissors out of her favorite cousin's hands, and suggested the poor brunette look for pants in the Barbie container. Just as Yuna found a pair of shorts that weren't too short and didn't have a weird, squiggly print on them, there was a knock on Rikku's bedroom door.

"_Lusa eh_!" Rikku called out. "Come in!"

Black and purple cell phone in one hand and leather handbag in the other, Lulu entered the room with her usual dark grace.

"_MIMI_!" Rikku cried excitedly in Al Bhed. "You came!"

Giving Rikku a nod, Lulu looked at Yuna and swept her into a motherly hug. "You poor child," she murmured, "having to go through all this in such a stressful period of your life." Pulling away from Yuna and studying her face, Lulu gently asked, "Are you okay?"

Yuna gave a slight nod then replied, "How did you know I was going to be here?"

"Rikku called me. She didn't tell me you were coming, but she told me about your certain feelings for your soon-to-be step-brother, and she asked me to come over and help formulate a plan."

Yuna eyed them both carefully. "A plan? What sort of plan?"

"I don't know. Rikku didn't really tell me. Why don't you fill us in…?" Lulu's voice drifted away as she saw the Barbies on the floor. "Yevon help us. Please, Rikku… not again!"

While Lulu was talking, Rikku had pulled Gothic Rebel Barbie out to play Lulu. The Barbie version did bear a striking resemblance to her, with fair skin, purple lipstick, dark hair, and fiery eyes. It was Rikku, however, who drew on a little mole just above the doll's lip with ballpoint pen.

"But _Mimi_, it helps me concentrate and formulate plans better!"

"First of all, Rikku," Lulu replied, "if you call me by my Al Bhed name one more time, I'll use yours. I'll call you _Neggi_ in front of everyone!"

Rikku's eyes widened at the dreaded name. Ever since Lulu and Yuna had learned about her real name, _Neggi_, they had teased her. Every time Rikku heard that name, she shuddered. It reminded her of eggy, which made her think of eggs, which were her second worst fear, behind lightning. They were just so… slimy.

Satisfied by Rikku's terrified expression, Lulu continued on. "Second, why do we have to use these plastic, stereotype-making dolls? Did you know that if Barbie was a real person, her body is so out of proportion that she wouldn't even be able to stand up? Barbies send messages to women everywhere that women are things to be used by men…"

The corners of Yuna's mouth twitched upward. Every single time Rikku brought out her beloved Barbies, Lulu would lecture her on their evils. Yuna knew that what Lulu said was partly true, but she sympathized with her green-eyed cousin. Barbie was the only femininity Rikku had in a houseful of boys, unless you counted Brother's... different behavior. No matter how straight he was, people often classified him as gay because of his feminine ways. Still, Rikku clung to her Barbies as if it was an inflatable Barbie life raft to keep her from sinking in a sea of testosterone.

Breaking into the fight, Yuna stepped in between the two feuding friends. Rikku had been muttering Al Bhed curses at Lulu, since Lulu didn't fluently understand Rikku's native language, and Lulu had been wildly threatening to use her Black Magic to roasty toast poor mini-Rikku, aka Perky Blonde Bombshell Party Barbie.

"You guys," Yuna interrupted, "I have a problem here. You both have come together to help me, and if Barbies are going to be the one to help fix my problem, no matter how sexist they seem, Lulu," Yuna added when she saw her friend about to protest, "then so be it."

Sighing, Lulu obliged. With her white, lithe fingers, she gingerly picked up Gothic Rebel Barbie. Holding her by the incredibly arched, plastic foot, Lulu asked Rikku, "I don't have to dress like a slut, do I?"

Laughing, Rikku replied, "When does Barbie ever dress like a slut?"

Seeing Lulu about to start crusading against the plastic childhood pleasure once again, Yuna neatly cut in. She held up a black and purple pinstriped business suit and skirt. "How about this, Lulu?"

Ruby eyes flashed over the outfit for a moment. Snatching the suit from Yuna, she pointed her long-nailed finger at her. "I am compromising everything I believe in for you. I sincerely hope you appreciate it."

Yuna grinned. "You know I do, and you know I'd do the same thing for you."

A smile twitched slightly at Lulu's lips as she dressed her doll, because she knew, above all things, friendship came first, and her two best friends would sacrifice anything for her, just as she was doing for Yuna.

"All rightie now," Rikku began once again, noticing Lulu's faint sign of approval. "We can start by introducing our complete cast: Besaidian Beach Barbie as Yunie!"

Yuna, giggling a little, strutted her doll into the playing space Rikku had cleared on the messy floor. With some difficulty, she bent the mini-Yuna's legs and sat her down on Rikku's shag rug.

"Next we have Gothic Rebel Barbie as Lulu, our black mage!" Lulu halfheartedly walked mini-Lu into the arena and sat down next to Yuna.

Rikku rattled off the next couple of characters fairly quickly. "Our hunky hero Tidus will be played by Star Blitzer Ken, with his pals, Squall and Wakka played by Hot 50's Greaser Ken and Zookeeper Ken. 50's Greaser Ken had Squall's signature leather jacket, and using half of brother's hair gel, Zookeeper Ken sported Wakka's gravity-defying hairdo.

"As for tonight's evil scary villain guy," Rikku continued, Ugly Guado Ken with tattoos applied by yours truly and sponsored by Issaru's Magic Marker Company plays Seymour!

"Instead of strutting him down the runway, Rikku chucked him, and he landed in Tidus's lap.

"Oops," she said as she laughed almost evilly, and then continued on.

"Finally, for our last, but most definitely not least character, we have Perky Blonde Bombshell Party Barbie, arriving in her red convertible with real radio. This young starlet will play the positively gorgeous Rikku, cousin and co-best friend to our heroine." As the car pulled up, Rikku hit the radio button in the Barbie car, and Aqua's _Barbie Girl_ began to play.

Smiling sunnily, Rikku began to sing along. "I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World! Life in plastic—it's fantastic!"

Yuna hit the radio button again to turn off the song before Lulu could hear, "Undress me everywhere," and blow her top.

"Hey!" Rikku whined.

"Let's move onto the plan," Lulu suggested firmly.

"Okay!" agreed the blonde, bouncing up and down in her seat. "What you need to do, Yunie," she told her cousin, "is convince Tidus he already does like you, like I said before."

Picking up mini-Yuna, Rikku meandered her past Tidus. Stopping her and slowly turning her around to face Ken, Rikku imitated Yuna's voice.

"Hi, Tidus!" she cried. "Since you and I are gonna be all alone for the next few weeks, I think we should go swimming!"

Switching back to narrator, Rikku said in a deep voice, "While in their back yard, when Tidus is attempting to teach Yunie blitzball, he accidentally hit her in the head.

"Ooh, the pain," Yuna moaned in her best Barbie voice.

Lulu really did hit her on the head at that point. "Yuna, that sounded just plain dirty."

Rubbing her sore head, Yuna replied, "Well, sorry! It is Barbie, after all."

Clearing her throat loudly for silence, Rikku paused for a moment, giggled, then continued. "Faking drowning, Yunie splashed around a bit dramatically, messes up her hair, but Tidus, being Mr. Macho Hero, comes to save her. Pretending to be unconscious, Tidus must perform mouth-to-mouth improvisation."

Lulu, reluctantly getting into the game, draped Yuna down helplessly as the real Yuna placed Tidus's plastic mouth over her painted on one.

"Breathe into her Tidus!" Rikku cried. "_Pnehk ran du meva_!"

Just as Yuna was beginning to regain consciousness, the real Yuna's cell phone rang.

"_Rammu_?" Yuna asked, speaking into it.

"Hey, Yuna," a deep voice said effortlessly. "I think you may want to come home now, 'cause my old man and your mom called, said they were heading over."

"Oh, hey Tidus," Yuna replied. Rikku began to laugh uncontrollably at this point, and was soon rolling on the floor as Yuna tried to hold her composure.

"How long do you think I have before they get there?"

"Eh, I'd say about ten minutes. You'd better haul ass, too, because we're not supposed to be out."

"All right, I'll be right over."

"Later," Tidus replied, and Yuna heard the click of the phone line and hung up.

"Guys, I have to run, but, I'll call and we can figure out some more ideas."

Rikku laughter had died down to occasional snorts, but she picked up Mini-Yunie, and began to brush her messed up hair. Just as the brush was getting a particularly tough tangle out, Yuna's head popped off. This sent Rikku into a quiet pause for a moment, then another round of loud pealing laughter.

Mildly, Lulu commented, "I guess life in plastic isn't so fantastic."

* * *

Racing home, Yuna hoped her mother and soon to be step-daddy weren't there yet. The whole purpose of these three weeks was to form a better brother/sister relationship with Tidus, and she had been forbidden to go over to friends' houses. Then again, she wasn't exactly forming a sibling relationship with Tidus either… Why didn't Jecht and Utada remember that Tidus was incredibly… irresistible? Did they _want_ them to go out? 

Pulling into the driveway to the house, Yuna saw that Jecht and Utada had not arrived yet, but she still raced inside. They could pull up any second, and she didn't relish being grounded on top of suspension. In her hurry, she smacked into Tidus.

Covering her mouth with both hands, Yuna's eyes widened, then relaxed. She just bumped into him. It wasn't that big a deal. "Sorry," she said, as she slowly lowered her hands from her mouth. "I didn't see you there."

"What a way to make an entrance," Tidus commented, then continued. "Looks like my old man and Utada are going to be a little late." Rolling his eyes, he added, "They had a craving for fried chocobo and chocolate covered strawberries."

Yuna shook her head in silence. What on Earth had she sped home for, then? "Where did they go to eat? It's already 10:30!"

"You know room service is always open with such delicacies."

"Excuse me?"

Tidus sighed. Slowly, he looked at Yuna and said, "They're stopping by tomorrow. I was going to call you, but then you pulled in. They're staying at the Bed and Breakfast Besaidia, Room 201, and they just called to tell me."

Yuna's mouth dropped open in disbelief. The Bed and Breakfast Besaidia was $350 for a room on the first floor. On the second floor, where Jecht and Utada were staying, you got a suite, and it cost you an extra 150 gil. What's more, Yuna's father, Braska, had offered to take Utada there one year for a get-away, but Utada had refused, vowing never to waste hard-earned gil on such an overrated place.

"Yeah, I know," Tidus said, seeing Yuna's shocked face. "You think they wouldn't need a vacation from living like royalty with us gone."

Even though it was not quite what Yuna had been thinking, she agreed with him anyway, then changed the topic. Thinking about Jecht and Utada at a Bed and Breakfast was not high on her list of things to ponder.

Stretching her arms high above her head, she yawned a little yawn.

"Are you tired?" Tidus asked, his cerulean eyes showing no sign of weariness.

"Not really," Yuna replied. "I feel a little drained emotionally, but, that's it."

"Cool," he replied, and proceeded to make himself a sandwich. Yuna, disappointed that their conversation was over, walked into the living room and sunk deep into the heavily cushioned couch. Why didn't she get some more useful info out of Rikku? How did she make realize she was the best girl he's ever laid eyes on? Closing her eyes, she tried hard to remember all the things Rikku had taught her over the years, but failed. Leaning her neck back against the head of the couch, she sighed deeply, and then she felt a _smoof_ beside her. Tidus had brought his snack and had sprawled down next to her.

"I've been thinking lately," he said before taking a monstrous bite out of his sandwich, which she noticed, was loaded with three kinds of meat.

"Yeah?" she said in response.

"Brothers and sister look out for each other, ya know? I think we've got that nailed, considering what's happened and all, but…" he trailed off and chewed thoughtfully.

"Tell me," Yuna encouraged him.

"After all that mess you had with Seymour, you deserve someone better, and one great relationship. Yuna, I'm going to find the prefect guy for you."

Smiling almost sadly, Yuna easily answered, "And I'll find the perfect girl for you."

* * *

all rightie, gonna go post this now. next chapter will be up soon if you REVIEW! 

you know you wanna... go ahead and click that button!


	9. Cinnamon and Cerulean

A/N- _Hello friends. Hope you enjoy. Although it starts out a little slow, I do quite like it. Quite a bit of fluff. Love the fluff. _

_Now, to set the scene. _**You need not read this until after you've read the chapter, or at all, if you like**_ You can, but it's really up to you. It starts off slow, with a bit of heavier material than Barbies. My writing style is a bit different now than it was when I was thirteen, but it's improved, so… :) I tried to keep it a bit similar, which is why this chapter was difficult to write. I am going against my writing grain. _

_Love,_

_Liz

* * *

_

It was the dead of the night, and it felt like everyone in the world was asleep, except for Yuna. Not a star shone in the sky, and daybreak was still hours away. The ground seemed to be moving beneath her. Whether it was because of the waves washing away the sand beneath her feet or the bottle of vodka she'd consumed in the past hour, found in the cupboard above the refrigerator, she didn't know nor did she care. Her stomach churned queasily within her, and watching the back and forth motion of the waves made it worse.

While her brain was sluggish, her body acted on its own. She stripped off all her clothing and jumped into the surf. She was mid-way through her second stroke when what she was doing registered in her mind, and a thrilling shriek resonated in the air around her. The water was icy, but her tears were hot. Icy, hot. Icy, hot.

_I'll find the perfect guy for you. _

She swam faster, and soon she was fifteen meters into the spray, then twenty. She could barely see the shoreline now, but she kept swimming against the waves. Ten more meters out, she treaded water.

_I'll find the perfect… perfect._

Her bare skin, milky white, glowed through the black of the water. She didn't need Tidus to find her the perfect guy. This was it, her perfection. The water was hers, as clouded as her befuddled head, salty as her tears, could swallow her whole.

She ducked and dove under. It was swirling around her, her perfection. She swallowed gulp after gulp of water, and came up, piercing the night with her lungs convulsing, gasping for air.

The last thing she consciously felt was being pulled to shore by a wave. She must have stumbled her way back to the house. Her clothes were gone when she awoke, and she was lying naked on her bedroom floor. Suddenly feeling very sick, Yuna ran to the bathroom, grabbing her robe, hand over her mouth. It was sunrise.

* * *

Tidus awoke to the sound of retching. He groaned and rolled over, trying to return to dreamland. He had been having the first pleasant dream he could remember, since falling asleep in Auron's class. It was all slipping away now. All he could recall was the sheer bliss. As his mind slowly ventured into wakefulness, memories of his head's nighttime travels were forgotten. _Why the hell was he hearing retching?_

Groaning and rolling over once more, Tidus stumbled out of bed, grabbed a shirt, and almost knowingly followed his ears. Even though he'd been awake for no more than a minute and wasn't completely coherent, he had an inkling of what was happening. His subconscious registered with his brain. Finding Yuna in the bathroom, puking the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet, he placidly found some towels, patted her on the back, and helped her sit up when she was finished.

"Will you be okay if we go sit in the living room?"

Yuna nodded glumly at Tidus, sweat shining on her pasty forehead. Helping her up off the obsidian-tiled floor, bronzed hand took hold of porcelain.

It seemed like forever ago, since he'd promised to help her, here on this very couch, though in reality, it had only been the night before. Jecht and Utada would be here in a few hours. Yuna looked awful. Her hair was damp, her hands were clammy. Sliding his hand under her chin, he felt her neck with the back of his hand. She was quite warm. All she was wearing was her flimsy bathrobe. Hoping she hadn't caught a fever, he tilted her chin and put a hand against her forehead. He was avoiding her eyes, afraid of what he would find there.

Seeming to have the same thought, Yuna buried her head into Tidus chest, and they sat, and he held her. She cried hot, pearly tears. "I'm so tired," she said shakily, her voice muffled by his shirt. "I'm so tired." He sat and held her, wondering what was so wrong, what had happened to her. They sat together until she had fallen back to sleep. When he picked her up, he noticed how light she was. Carrying her to her bedroom, he slipped her under the covers, and she hugged her pillow in her sleep, looking for something to cling to. Finding more blankets, he piled them on top of her, and felt her forehead again. Positively burning up. Sighing, he went to take a quick shower, hoping he could find chocobo and rice soup, for when she woke up.

* * *

Shuffling around the kitchen, trying not to create too much of a clatter, Tidus ran his hand through his now damp mop of hair. Yuna was asleep in her bedroom; he had checked on her after his shower. Her head was still hot and her face was wet. Whether the moisture was from perspiration or tears, he didn't know.

As he scoured the kitchen for a can of soup, he reminisced. It was Tuesday. They had only moved in four days ago. Christ, had it only been four days? Yevon, living with Yuna certainly wasn't the absolute hell he had anticipated it to be. It _was_ turning out to be like one of those over dramatized, Al Bhed soap operas where someone is always sleeping with their sister's husband's stepfather who happens to be married to the woman who seduced the original perpetrator's ex-boyfriend by slipping illegal ethers into his drink one crazy night at some bar. Raucous screams of, _"OUI CMABD FEDR RES?!"_ were often emitted from the televisions set as Tidus flipped through daytime TV channels. The occasional, "E's bnakhyhd... yht ed'c hud ouinc," could be heard, as well, while emotive music swelled in the background.

Finally locating the soup, Tidus popped it into the microwave and set about searching for crackers. The young man's thoughts drifted to Yuna once more. What is going on with her?, he wondered. Her ex-boyfriend abused her, her mom's getting married to a classmate's dad, said classmate was, up until a few days ago, her sworn enemy, she's stuck living with aforementioned former mortal enemy, she gets suspended from school, now she's drunk and throwing up in the morning. He should write all of it down and sell it to a soap opera. Shaking his head, Tidus resolved to try to calm things down for Yuna.

Assembling a tray with soup, crackers, juice, and a fever reducing dispel potion, the teen only felt slightly ridiculous carrying it all into the sleeping girl's room.

Running a cool hand across her hot forehead, Tidus frowned as Yuna stirred. She seemed more feverish than before. Yuna sat up in bed, slowly blinking away sleep. When she saw the food in Tidus' hands, she grimaced a bit. I'm not sure I can eat that," she moaned.

Handing her the tray, Tidus kneeled on the edge of her bed. "You need to," he replied, trying to make his voice soothing. "Take the potion first. How much did you drink?"

Looking at him wonderingly, Yuna answered, "I…really don't remember. How did you know…?"

"Alcohol leaves a very distinct odor on one's breath."

Nodding, Yuna took the potion. She began to eat slowly, and Tidus got up to leave.

"Wait," she called out weakly. "Please don't go."

"You really need your rest," Tidus responded, eyeing her, cerulean irises clouded with periwinkle worry.

"Please stay," begged emerald and sapphire jewels.

The cerulean eyes relented.

* * *

Her tawny brown hair tickled his chin as she buried her hot face against his chest once more. He slipped under the covers, holding her, cradling her, taking the place of the sweat soaked pillow she had been clinging to before.

"Just hold me," she whispered.

He held her. They lay, nestled together, not speaking a word. Her breath was hot and ragged against him and she smelled of cinnamon. He continued to hold her.

Tidus loosened his grip on her waist for a moment so he could adjust his position on the bed.

"Don't leave," she mumbled, arms clinging to his neck.

"I'm not," he reassured her, holding her close once more. "I won't." He inhaled her scent again, enraptured. She smelled just like the cookies his mom used to bake to take to his dad's blitz games.

He's so warm, so safe, Yuna thought. I could fall asleep this way.

So she did. Tidus stayed perfectly still, holding her. He wouldn't let her go. When she woke an hour later, he still wouldn't let her go.

* * *

You smell like cinnamon, his eyes told her. His mouth asked, "Do you feel any better?"

Yuna sighed and whispered, "A little."

"Why are you whispering?" Tidus asked in a hushed tone.

"My throat's a little sore," she replied, and he heard the raspy note of her voice.

Looking concerned, he asked, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No," Yuna urgently said, trying to move so she could look at his face. "Just stay here and hold me."

He sighed silently with relief. Her hair had arranged itself right near his face again, and he could inhale her warm scent. He could go on breathing like that forever. It was a little weird, holding her like this. It was Yuna, after all. She was going to be his sister… Tidus remembered that Jecht and Utada would be visiting today. Groaning a little, he knew he would have to extract himself from the warm bed and the reminder of his mother's cookies before they came.

"Yuna?" he muttered.

"Hmm…?" she asked sleepily.

"Why'd you do it?"

She turned and faced him. "Steal and drink Jecht's vodka, you mean?"

"Well, yeah," Tidus agreed with her.

She turned away once more, and snuggled her face into a pillow rather than Tidus' chest, which the teen was sorely disappointed about. "I was upset," she said simply.

They were silent for a few minutes.

"You do have quite a bit to be upset about," he conceded.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, there's the whole Seymour thing, of course, your mom's getting married, you're suspended…" Tidus went over the list of items he was selling to the Al Bhed soap opera.

"…and Rikku broke out the Barbies last night," she added.

Tidus stopped his inhalation to stare at her. "You know what? I don't even want to know."

Yuna laughed, a throaty giggle that turned into a cough. She moved away from Tidus for a moment, not wanting to spread the bacteria, but he took hold of her and moved her closer once more. She laid her head under his chin, on his tanned neck, and when he talked, he tickled her cheek with the vibrations of his vocal cords.

"What will we do when Jecht and Utada marry?" he asked her, tracing a pattern on her back through her robe with his fingers. He couldn't decide whether or not there was a hint of vanilla underneath her cinnamony aroma.

"What do you mean?" she queried.

"Do you want them to be married? Do you want to live in the same house, as a family?"

"It'd be weird, with them giggling and making out and stuff…" Yuna replied, and Tidus grimaced at the 'and stuff.'

"…I wouldn't mind you being around all the time, though," she finished.

Tidus stopped his gentle tracing along her backbone, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair was so soft. His mother's hair had been soft, but it was a richer brown with a hint of red, more like cherrywood than Yuna's chestnut.

"Do you ever miss your dad?" he asked Yuna suddenly.

Olive and ultramarine eyes bored in cerulean ones. The cerulean was brighter than usual.

"All the time," she answered softly.

"What do you miss most about him?"

She paused to think, then smiled. "The way he squinted his eyes when he laughed, the way they glinted when he teased me. I miss the way he would tickle my mom, and tell her she was an excellent cook, even when she made something strange, like her chocolate banana pineapple cake. It was so bad," she laughed, "but he ate two pieces."

Tidus smiled as she laughed. She looked at him smiling and wondered, "Do you ever miss your mom?"

Still smiling, though more sadly, Tidus answered. "I miss her perfume," he said, "and the way she'd always take me to the park to make me happy after the old man made me feel ashamed during blitz practice." Drawing in Yuna's scent, he added, "I miss her cinnamon cookies, I miss taking care of her when she was sick, I miss her just being home when I returned from school. I miss the band aids she'd keep in the medicine cabinet for the days when I came home after goalie practice from blitzball. There were cartoons of my favorite players on them," he added, "and she'd always tell me that one day they'd wear my face on their cuts and scrapes."

"You're good at taking care of people," Yuna murmured.

"I had a lot of practice." Drawing his hand across her forehead again to see if her fever had gone down, he added as an afterthought, "My mom was sick most of the time."

"I remember," she told him, as he wrapped his arms around her again. "I used to come over every now and then. We were friends. Don't you remember?"

Sighing, he nodded. "I remember."

"Your hair was just a blonde, fuzzy puff ball, and your voice was squeaky."

"It was fourth grade!" Tidus exclaimed.

"It was so funny," Yuna responded, breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Oh yeah? Well you were gangly, and had huge front teeth."

Yuna gasped, and, after she had recovered from shock, took her pillow and hit him in the face. He laughed at her, expertly flipped her onto her back, and began tickling her. Through a new fit of giggles and shrieks of laughter, she threw up her hands to fend him off. "Stop!" she yelped, gasping for breath. "I'm sorry, your hair wasn't fuzzy!"

Realizing such exertion probably wasn't good for her, Tidus did stop and she climbed back on top of him so he could keep holding on to her.

"Feeling better?"

She answered with a giggle.

He looked at her face. Her eyes were warm. Her skin, though pale from her fever, still glowed. He had never been so attracted to a girl before. A million pictures swam in his head. Yuna, painting with him at the pottery place, a snub of purple on her nose. Yuna, punching Seymour. Yuna, suspended, giggling with Rikku, and intense while playing laser tag. Yuna, broken after Seymour came. Lost and throwing up in the bathroom. Telling him to piss off. Her fingers brushing against his while they sat silently in Auron's class. Smiling while they put on the charade of them dating. The blank expression on her face when he had told her he would find her the perfect guy. Yevon, how stupid.

He traced patterns on her back again.

"Yuna, remember what I told you last night?"

She turned her head to face him. "About finding the perfect guy for me?"

"Yeah, that."

She nodded. "I remember."

Taking her face in between his hands, he replied, "Well, I found him."

Drawing her face close to his, he brought his mouth to hers. She didn't resist and he kissed her. Her lips tasted like cinnamon. At that moment, the sound of Jecht and Utada's car could be heard in the driveway.

* * *

//fin

worth the wait or no?

please review


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